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- Friedman's work
- was based at
- the University
- of Chicago. His
- economic theories
- emphasised the
- link between the
- money supply
- and the rate of
- inflation. If the
- government prints
- more money to
- fund its projects,
- then inflation
- inevitably goes
- up as a result
- #
- Friedman's
- theories formed
- the basis of the
- economic policies
- of Margaret
- Thatcher in
- Britain, and
- Ronald Reagan in
- the US. But
- Friedman's own
- study criticized
- the Thatcher
- administration
- for making only
- "limited" progress
- in tackling the
- growth of public
- spending
- #
- Friedman's
- theories were
- hailed by right-
- wing politicians
- in the Eighties,
- when many
- economies went
- through a boom
- period. But even
- at the height of
- Milton Friedman's
- influence, some
- critics felt his
- faith in market
- forces went
- too far
- #
- Yuppies could
- celebrate in
- the boom years of
- the Eighties, and
- during those
- years conspicuous
- consumption was
- the fashion. The
- high salaries for
- young men and
- women working
- the financial
- markets came to
- epitomise the
- success, however
- short-lived, of
- those years
- #
- The boom years
- on the stock
- exchanges ended
- dramatically in
- October 1987
- when shares
- collapsed in
- unprecedented
- falls. The Dow
- Jones industrial
- average in New
- York fell by 22.9
- per cent, nearly
- twice the fall that
- triggered the
- Great Crash
- of1929
- #
- The collapse of
- the stock markets
- took the gloss off
- Milton Friedman's
- gospel, but the
- man himself still
- acted as a guru to
- many politicians.
- His worries about
- the use of the
- money supply to
- boost the economy
- still seemed like
- common sense in
- many quarters
- #
- From the
- standpoint of the
- Nineties, the
- Eighties heyday
- of monetarism
- seems very
- distant. Economic
- success, both on a
- personal and a
- national level has
- turned out to be
- harder than
- anybody - or at
- least any yuppie
- - ever suspected
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