Milton Friedman College Essays Samples For Students

Milton Friedman was a renowned American economist, writer and statistician who was awarded the 1976 Nobel Prize in Economics sciences for his exemplary efforts in research on consumption analysis, complexity of stabilisation policy, and the economics of monetary history and theory. He was born in 1921 to Jewish immigrants. Friedman earned his B.A degree at the Rutgers University at the age of twenty; he later did his M.A in the University of Chicago and completed his Ph.D. from the Columbia University in the year 1946. Apart from being a lead researcher in the field of free market economics, Milton Friedman has ...

John Maynard Keynes founded the dominant school of economic policy in the Western world from the 1930s to the 1970s, and argued that an expansionary fiscal policy through deficit spending was essential to stimulate the economy in a recession or depression. During this period, social welfare spending, strong labor unions and regulation of capitalism were part of the social democratic consensus, but all of this came unraveled in the stagflation and oil shocks of the 1970s. Stagnation and decline in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union of the planned economies were evident and began to crumble under the pressures of inflation, ...

ABSTRACT

As engines of wealth creation, businesses have long been viewed as entities that must operate free of ethical standards of social responsibility. Many, including economist Milton Friedman, have contended that the well-being of America’s corporate/financial edifice depends on unfettered corporate interests, manned by employees whose only requirement is that they must obey the letter of the law. However, events of recent years, during which corporate and financial malfeasance has contributed to the nation’s current economic malaise, have reopened the debate over the role of business ethics. More contemporary observers have argued that there are no “shades of ...

The theory of shock doctrine explains how stealth, force, and crisis can be employed in certain scenarios to support the implementation of some economic policies which include things like deregulation, privatization, and reduction in the provision of some social services (Norberg, 2008). As postulated by Naomi Klein in The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism advances the theory is evident. Metaphorically, Klein looks at the previous electroshock therapy that was conducted with an aim of returning troubled patients to a state in which they were able to write a new personality (Harrison, 2009). It is possible that the ...

Introduction

Milton Friedman was a renowned economist and a reputable advisor of the United President Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher who was a Conservative British Prime Minister. Friedman developed an influential and controversial manifesto on the role of the government in a free society on his work titled Capitalism and Freedom. His fundamental objective was to promote the laissez-faire economic policy by often disapproving the interventionist policies held by the government and their cost in economic efficiency and personal freedom within and outside the United States. It is with this light that Friedman provide his view on the significance of ...

Social Responsibility of Business

Introduction
The belief advanced by Milton Friedman connotes that the directors of a business must engage in business actions that bring only profits to the given business shareholders. In reference to notions of business ethics, the executive management of a business corporation must earn profits for the business owners within the rules of the game. Further, about corporate social responsibility, the business management mandate is to conduct business activities in such a way that they do not commit business resources to social responsibility activities, like charity, that have the potential of reducing business profits (Watson and Prevos, 2009).

Business Ethics

Business ...

Introduction

This report is a critical analysis of an ethical dilemma in the workplace. It will include the evaluation of the facts of the case in order to establish the fundamental issues and matters at stake. From there, a review of the fundamental theories of the situation will be conducted. This will culminate in the identification of the different approaches and views. Afterward, there will be the application of the theories to the facts of the case in order to conclude with recommendations on how to deal with the issues at hand. This will include the review of important theories ...

Abstract

This essay examines the role of ethics in organizations or companies and how ethics can be taught and instituted in such entities. The research identifies that most organizations are set up to attain specific goals. In the case of companies, the main motive for creation is to attain the highest level of profits for shareholders. Ethics seem to reduce the economic returns of a company in the short run. This is in the form of direct costs for monitoring compliance and indirect costs in the form of lost opportunities. However, in the long-run, ethics seem to be beneficial rather ...

There are four groups of stakeholders: students, customers and WRC; Nike, FLA, and the factories where the products are manufactured; the labor force; and the University of Oregon. The first group would like to make the American companies more socially responsible and some of the stakeholders even want to return the production to the USA. The second group strives for effectiveness of the production and the acceptable working standards. The labor force is interested in the improved working conditions and the wages that are sufficient for living. Finally, the University of Oregon is a hostage of circumstance, because it ...

Business ethic

Milton Friedman is rumored to have said “The business of business is business.” Why would a free-market economist have made such a statement? Does such a philosophy have implications for business ethics?
Milton Friedman was famously known for his quote that, ‘the business of business is business’. This quote calls upon every person involved in business, from business owners to employees to assume an important role in the workings of business. This implies that one should focus more on his or her business’ most important aspects. Apparently, the most important business activity is cash flow. This is the money ...

Synopsis

This paper discusses sustainable development and the leadership characteristics that initiate organizational change towards sustainability. In the increasingly competitive environment, leaders find themselves under constant challenges, which require them to embrace change and to steer their organization towards sustainability. Sustainable development, however, does not only pertain to economic sustainability, but it also pertains to environmental and social sustainability. Also known as the triple-bottom-line, this paper discusses the importance of achieving sustainable development through economic, environmental and social sustainability and the role of the leader in achieving this goal. Using real-life business scenarios, this paper provides contemporary examples of how ...

Environmental Worldview

1. I support the Stewardship environmental worldview that is in the middle between Earth-exploiting Planetary management worldview and unrealistic utopian Environmental Wisdom worldview. In my opinion, Stewardship’s environmental worldview is also the closest to Christian ethics and morality since humanity was indeed chosen by God to be ‘stewards’ of the world. At the same time, people still need to care about the environment. God provided people with intelligence that would prevent them from self-destructive activities including full exploitation of Earth.
2. My environmental worldview encompasses the entire ‘ladder’ of ethical concerns from Figure 28.4 because people ...
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Introduction

History of Economic Thought is a subject which is has a critical account of development of all emerging economic ideas, seeking for their originsand, in most cases, trying to figure out their results.The history of economic thought is concerned with thinkers and theoriesin the fields of political economy as well as general economics from the far past ranging to the immediate present (Roll 1996, p23).The broad subject of economics was considered as a distinct discipline until the 19thcentury.
For instance, the ancient Greek philosopher named Aristotle, in one of his works on ethics and politics thought about the ‘art of ...

Corporate Social Responsibility in Business

Introduction
This paper seeks to critically analyze the role that corporate social responsibility plays in a business entity`s pursuit of its over-riding objective, which is to maximize profits and increase shareholders` wealth. The paper seeks to draw the relationship between effective corporate social responsibility strategies of a business as a key ingredient in its accomplishment of the profit-maximization objective in the modern-day business environment. The paper will analyze whether the Milton Friedman`s assertion that businesses should only be interested in seeking profits and operating within the rules is true, or whether the integration of comprehensive social responsibility initiatives of a ...

The War on Drugs has been fought for the past several decades in the United States – billions of dollars have been spent fighting the flow of illegal drugs into America, seemingly to no avail. Millions of Americans use illegal drugs (marijuana, cocaine, heroin) regularly, and even the most well-organized and efficient anti-drug efforts seem to do little against this. With that in mind, it is time to reevaluate the moral and philosophical objections to drugs in the US; philosophers such as Milton Friedman would argue that it is best to decriminalize drugs and make them legal. On the other ...

Introduction

Many companies engage in corporate social responsibility engaging in charitable acts. There has been focused attention on this topic. Milton Friedman suggested that corporate social responsibility applies only to the shareholders of the company. Other parties should not be considered. The managers should only concentrate on maximising shareholder’s wealth and ensure the firm constantly makes profits. This concept goes against the widely held view that a company should practice social responsibility to several stakeholders such as the customers, employees, suppliers and the local communities. The concept proposed by Milton is known as the Shareholder Concept of social responsibility while ...