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Milton Friedman on Incentives and self-interest

One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.
The Open Mind
Interview, 1975, The Open Mind, hosted by Richard Heffner, Episode “Living Within Our Means” (1975)
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  1. The affirmative-action program is one of those bureaucratic monstrosities that have become all too familiar: noble objectives, ignoble results.
    Bureaucracy Scorned
    Column, 1975, Newsweek (December 29, 1975); reprinted in full in the Congressional Record, Senate, August 26, 1976, p. 28015, under the heading “[From Newsweek, Dec. 29, 1975]”, introduced by Senator Mark Hatfield. Later collected in Bright Promises, Dismal Performance: An Economist’s Protest (1983)., Congressional Record, August 26, 1976, p. 28015
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  2. The Great Depression in the United States, far from being a sign of the inherent instability of the private enterprise system, is a testament to how much harm can be done by mistakes on the part of a few men when they wield vast power over the monetary system of a country.
    Capitalism and Freedom
    Book, 1962, Ch. 3 The Control of Money, p. 50
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  3. Targets should be expressed in terms of dollar levels of monetary aggregates rather than, or in addition to, growth rates. In 1975, Congress required the Fed for the first time to specify targets a year in advance. However, the Fed has evaded the intended discipline by stating targets in terms of growth rates applied to a shifting level of actual monetary totals. This device buried past mistakes and enabled the Fed to start fresh each quarter.
    Improving Monetary Policy
    Column, 1980, Newsweek, July 28, 1980; reprinted in the Congressional Record, Extensions of Remarks, July 28, 1980, p. 20026, introduced by Representative Robert Dornan of California, who gives the column as appearing in the Newsweek issue “dated July 28, 1980”, Congressional Record, July 28, 1980, p. 20026
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