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Milton Friedman on regulation, licensing, and bureaucracy

What Friedman said about occupational licensing, regulatory agencies, and why bureaucracies outlive their purpose.

21 passages in the archive21 checked against the source0 not yet checked
  1. The way to end long lines at gas stations is to abolish FEO and end all controls on the prices and allocation of petroleum products. Within a few weeks, your friendly dealer would again be cleaning your windshield with a smile.
    FEO and the Gas Lines
    Column, 1974, Newsweek, March 4, 1974; reprinted in the Congressional Record, Extensions of Remarks, February 27, 1974, pp. 4559 to 4560, introduced by Representative John H. Rousselot of California, who gives it as the column of “Newsweek columnist, Dr. Milton Friedman, in the March 4, 1974, issue”; reprinted again in Extensions of Remarks, April 30, 1974, p. 12454, by Representative Steven D. Symms, from The Freeman (Foundation for Economic Education), Congressional Record, February 27, 1974, p. 4560
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  2. 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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  3. Airlines have had no difficulty in acquiring the planes and personnel to handle the increased traffic produced by deregulation. What has been the bottleneck? Airports. Why? Because they are government owned and operated.
    We Have Socialism, Q.E.D.
    Column, 1989, The New York Times, December 31, 1989, Section 4, p. 11
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  4. The Arab cut in output can be blamed for higher prices, but it cannot be blamed for the long lines. Their creation required the cooperation of shortsighted governments.
    FEO and the Gas Lines
    Column, 1974, Newsweek, March 4, 1974; reprinted in the Congressional Record, Extensions of Remarks, February 27, 1974, pp. 4559 to 4560, introduced by Representative John H. Rousselot of California, who gives it as the column of “Newsweek columnist, Dr. Milton Friedman, in the March 4, 1974, issue”; reprinted again in Extensions of Remarks, April 30, 1974, p. 12454, by Representative Steven D. Symms, from The Freeman (Foundation for Economic Education), Congressional Record, February 27, 1974, p. 4559
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  5. By this line of reasoning, the corner grocer and the A&P are “recipient institutions” because some of their customers receive social-security checks. The New York Times and The Chicago Tribune are Federal contractors because welfare recipients buy papers. How silly can you get?
    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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  6. In this day and age, we need to revise the old saying to read, “Hell hath no fury like a bureaucrat scorned.”
    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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  7. It's very much easier to introduce restrictions and restraints than it is to remove them. It's easier to pass a law than it is to repeal a law and so over the course of time you tend to impose these chains and restraints on yourselves mostly for good reasons. The initial objectives are always good that doesn't mean the outcome is.
    The Open Mind
    Interview, 1977, The Open Mind, hosted by Richard Heffner, Episode “A Nobel Laureate on the American Economy” (May 3, 1977)
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  8. Well, the way in which many economists have implicitly reconciled it is by being in favor of the free market in general and opposed to the free market in particular. This area is a special case. It needs regulation. This area is a special case. You know, the same thing happens to businessmen. Every businessman is in favor of private enterprise. Except for himself.
    The Open Mind
    Interview, 1977, The Open Mind, hosted by Richard Heffner, Episode “A Nobel Laureate on the American Economy” (May 3, 1977)
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  9. As I write this in Chicago, lines are forming at those gas stations that are open. The exasperated motorists are cursing; the service station attendants are fuming; the politicians are promising. The one thing few people seem to be doing is thinking.
    FEO and the Gas Lines
    Column, 1974, Newsweek, March 4, 1974; reprinted in the Congressional Record, Extensions of Remarks, February 27, 1974, pp. 4559 to 4560, introduced by Representative John H. Rousselot of California, who gives it as the column of “Newsweek columnist, Dr. Milton Friedman, in the March 4, 1974, issue”; reprinted again in Extensions of Remarks, April 30, 1974, p. 12454, by Representative Steven D. Symms, from The Freeman (Foundation for Economic Education), Congressional Record, April 30, 1974, p. 12454
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  10. There is an energy crisis, there are gasoline lines, for one reason and one reason only. Because government has decreed that there shall be.
    Blaming the Obstetrician
    Column, 1979, Newsweek (June 4, 1979); reprinted in the Congressional Record, Extensions of Remarks, June 7, 1979, pp. 14007 to 14008, introduced by Representative G. William Whitehurst of Virginia, who describes it as “an article by Milton Friedman, which appeared in the June 4, 1979, issue of Newsweek”, Congressional Record, June 7, 1979, pp. 14007 to 14008
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  11. There is one simple way to end the energy crisis and the gasoline shortage tomorrow—and I mean tomorrow and not six months from now, not six years from now. Eliminate all controls on the price of crude oil and other petroleum products. The gasoline lines would melt faster than the snows of winter.
    Blaming the Obstetrician
    Column, 1979, Newsweek (June 4, 1979); reprinted in the Congressional Record, Extensions of Remarks, June 7, 1979, pp. 14007 to 14008, introduced by Representative G. William Whitehurst of Virginia, who describes it as “an article by Milton Friedman, which appeared in the June 4, 1979, issue of Newsweek”, Congressional Record, June 7, 1979, pp. 14007 to 14008
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  12. Most colleges and universities have accepted—and lobbied extensively for—Federal funds, and their receipt of Federal funds is the legal justification for HEW jurisdiction over their hiring and other practices. They are hoist on their own petard when they now complain that he who pays the piper is calling the tune.
    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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  13. The answer to “Why now?” is straightforward—yet I know from bitter experience how hard it is to persuade anyone other than an economist that so simple an answer can be correct. Nineteen seventy-three is different from other peacetime years because, for the first time since World War II, the U.S. has had extensive price and wage controls. The key to today’s shortages is the price freeze ordered by President Nixon on Aug. 15, 1971.
    Why Now?
    Column, 1973, Newsweek (December 31, 1973); reprinted in full in the Congressional Record, Extensions of Remarks, January 24, 1974, p. 801, introduced by Representative John M. Ashbrook, who gives the issue as “the December 31, 1973 issue of Newsweek”, and reprinted again the same day at pp. 807 to 808 by Representative Earl F. Landgrebe, Congressional Record, January 24, 1974, p. 801
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  14. Of course, we know very well that the situation is precisely the reverse. The lines date from the creation of a real Federal Energy Office run by a very visible, able and articulate William Simon. Which is the cause and which the effect? Did the lines produce the FEO or the FEO the lines?
    FEO and the Gas Lines
    Column, 1974, Newsweek, March 4, 1974; reprinted in the Congressional Record, Extensions of Remarks, February 27, 1974, pp. 4559 to 4560, introduced by Representative John H. Rousselot of California, who gives it as the column of “Newsweek columnist, Dr. Milton Friedman, in the March 4, 1974, issue”; reprinted again in Extensions of Remarks, April 30, 1974, p. 12454, by Representative Steven D. Symms, from The Freeman (Foundation for Economic Education), Congressional Record, February 27, 1974, p. 4559
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  15. Nixon was the most socialist of the presidents of the United States in the 20th century. ( … ) Well, his ideas were not socialist, quite the opposite, but if you look at what happened during his administration, first of all, the number of pages in the Federal Register, which is full of regulations about business, doubled during his regime.
    Commanding Heights: Milton Friedman interview
    Interview, 2000, PBS, “On Richard Nixon,” interview conducted October 1, 2000
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  16. There is nothing that could do more in a brief period to destroy a market system and replace it by a centrally controlled system than effective governmental control of prices and wages.
    A Friedman Doctrine—The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits
    Column, 1970, The New York Times Magazine, September 13, 1970, Section SM, p. 17
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  17. In one sense, it is poetic justice that my colleagues and I at colleges and universities should now be suffering under the bureaucratic lash. For we have done more than any other group to produce a climate of opinion favorable to big government. So long as affirmative-action programs were directed at greedy businesses and grasping trade unions, academia for the most part cheered. And even now that its own ox is being gored, the typical reaction is that the academic world is “different.”
    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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  18. Is rationing the solution? Far from it. It is the problem. We already have rationing of producers and distributors. Coupon rationing of final consumers would simply be the hair of the dog that bit you.
    FEO and the Gas Lines
    Column, 1974, Newsweek, March 4, 1974; reprinted in the Congressional Record, Extensions of Remarks, February 27, 1974, pp. 4559 to 4560, introduced by Representative John H. Rousselot of California, who gives it as the column of “Newsweek columnist, Dr. Milton Friedman, in the March 4, 1974, issue”; reprinted again in Extensions of Remarks, April 30, 1974, p. 12454, by Representative Steven D. Symms, from The Freeman (Foundation for Economic Education), Congressional Record, February 27, 1974, p. 4560
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  19. Other kinds of regulations, particularly regulations on personal behavior, have gone up. It's social control that has been taking the place of narrow economic control. ( … ) They're not a threat to the free market. They're a threat to human freedom.
    Commanding Heights: Milton Friedman interview
    Interview, 2000, PBS, “Where We Stand Today,” interview conducted October 1, 2000
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  20. I summarized my impressions by saying that I thought that the best way to understand Israel was to recognize that two Jewish traditions were at war with one another in Israel. One of them was a very recent tradition, a tradition of 100 to 150 years old. That’s the tradition of socialism. … The other tradition, I said, was a tradition that was at least 2,000 years old. It was a tradition that had arisen during the diaspora and as a result of the diaspora. It was a tradition of how you get around government regulations, how you find chinks in controls, how you find those areas in which the free market operates and makes the most of them.
    The Open Mind
    Interview, 1977, The Open Mind, hosted by Richard Heffner, Episode “A Nobel Laureate on the American Economy” (May 3, 1977)
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  21. In words that are more in Parkinson’s style: in a bureaucratic system, useless work drives out useful work.
    Gammon’s “Black Holes”
    Column, 1977, Newsweek (1977); reprinted in the Congressional Record, Extensions of Remarks, November 30, 1977, p. 38195, introduced by Representative John Ashbrook of Ohio as “Mr. Friedman’s article on Gammon’s theory of bureaucratic displacement as it appeared in Newsweek.” The reprint gives no issue date, Congressional Record, November 30, 1977, p. 38195
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