Skip to main content

Week 12 [20.01-26.01.20] Milton Friedman - I, pencil




    Milton Friedman was an American economist and a Nobel prize winner in the field of economics who was best known for his strong belief in free-market capitalism. He still remains to be one of the biggest icons of the libertarian ideology as well as one of the greatest financial experts. In the video below one of his short but thought-provoking speeches is presented.

Questions:
  1. Do you agree with the presented statement?
  2. Are you interested in economics? What other economic icons do you know?
  3. Were you aware of the libertarian ideology? If yes – do you agree with its concept of the market?


Sources:

Comments

Olga Przytula said…
I don’t know if there is much to agree or disagree with. Milton Friedman has presented the audience with facts about the manufacturing process of the pencil and therefore proved that the demand for goods and services and the price system fosters cooperation so remarkable that it is unimaginable for any person to manage.

I am somewhat interested, as my brother and boyfriend both graduated from economic schools. You could say that I learn by osmosis :D

I have heard about few: Adam Smith, Murray Rothbard, John Keynes and Karl Marx.

I have heard about it. I do agree to some extent. However, I believe that the “invisible force” works too slow sometimes and you cannot assume perfect market knowledge of all involved parties. That being said, sometimes regulations are necessary to ensure fair exchange.
Maciej Szczypek said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Maciej Szczypek said…
Any way of learning economics is the right way, as far as it is legit knowledge and it surely is in your case :). I understand your point and I agree that there should be some regulations in order to keep the market fair for everybody, however I think the number of this regulations should be as small as possibile to keep it "free".
1. It was more a fact than a statement. He described entire process of the creation of the pencil. It is true that it takes more than one human being to create something as simple as pencil.

2. I am not interested in economics and i don't know any well known economist.

3. Like i said i am not into economics that much but i don't believe it creates a peace and harmony in the world.
Maciej Szczypek said…
Well, one can simply state a fact just like Milton Friedman did :) I understand, but don't you think, that everyones life without the most basic economics would be just a chaos? I do not claim that it makes our world peaceful, but still it somehow keeps many aspects together.

Popular posts from this blog

Week 4 [06-12.11.2017] This is what happens when you reply to spam email.

James Veitch is a British comedian. In today’s Ted Talk James with characteristic for himself a sense of humor shows how he deals with spam emails and why responding to junk messages may be sometimes dangerous. Questions: What do you think about James’s  way of dealing with spam? Why are junk messages legal, even though it sometimes may be a fraud? Dou you have a problem with spam? How do you deal with with it?

Week 12 (12.01-18.01.15) Are you an early bird or a night owl ?

Owls are nocturnal creatures. They’re wide awake at night and they sleep during the day. If this sounds like bliss to you, then, like about 20 percent of the population who find themselves most active at around 9 pm, you may fall into the same category as our feathered friend. Night owls often have difficulty waking up in the morning, and like to be up late at night.  Studies of animal behaviour indicate that being a night owl may actually be built into some people’s genes. This would explain why those late-to-bed, late-to-rise people find it so difficult to change their behaviour. The trouble for night owls is that they just have to be at places such as work and school far too early. This is when the alarm clock becomes the night owl’s most important survival tool. Experts say that one way for a night owl to beat their dependence on their alarm clocks is to sleep with the curtains open. The Theory is that if they do so, the morning sunlight will awaken them gently and natura...

Week 9 [11.12 - 17.12.2017] Is Scientific Community Accepting of New Ideas?

We all want to believe that science is about pushing the boundaries of knowledge, breaking the status quo and persuading curious ideas, even if the majority of people find them unbelievable. But is it so? There are many cases of scientists who were disgraced and persecuted by the scientific community simply because their findings challenged the already existing beliefs. Humberto Maturana and Lynn Margulis Humberto Maturana is a prominent biologist who studied the examples of symbiosis between organisms: fungi that control the ants (there are farming ants that grow fungi for food) or the parasites that hijack the brains of snails. https://www.une.edu.au/__data/assets/image/0005/24791/leucochloridium-paradoxum.jpg Maturana wondered how is it possible that a symbiosis so complex as the one between a worm and a snail could ever take place? I t occurred it is actually a more general argument about the evolution. What comes first: the design or the applic...