factual

Friedman and Rawls share a vision but miss increasing returns

Milton Friedman's Capitalism and Freedom is very similar to Rawls despite the left loving Rawls and hating Friedman, but both dramatically underestimated the importance of increasing-returns phenomena; Friedman's implicit decreasing-returns model led him to treat monopolies as merely temporary, missing that increasing-returns phenomena that create monopolies are the very foundation of civilization.

factualpending

Speaker

Glen Weyl

Evidence Quote

I don’t think he perceived that increasing returns phenomena that tend to create monopolies are really the foundation of what creates the possibility of civilization. He had in the back of his mind this sort of decreasing returns model that’s dominant in economics, and I think that that colors his whole worldview

Source

Glen WeylConversations with Tyler
Created: 6/13/2026, 3:24:00 AM

My Notes

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