India Uncut

Gautam and Michael just emailed to inform me that Milton Friedman has died, and I feel a strange sense of loss that I can't explain. Friedman was 94, he was American, I never had anything remotely to do with him, so why should I give a damn? Well, maybe it's because many of the things he stood for are values I hold very close to my heart. He also articulated them with such lucid brilliance that any doubts one had were removed, any questions one had were answered.

And maybe because I wish some of his insights had entered the heads of the people who run our country.

I shall update this post later to link to obituaries and tributes, but in the meantime, let me leave you with two gems: one, this brilliant quote by him on the four ways in which money can be spent; and two, an outstanding interview that I had linked to here, and that I reproduce again below. (Here's the transcript.)



Update: Here are some pieces on Friedman by the Wall Street Journal, Tyler Cowen, Alex Tabarrok, Austan Goolsbee, Holcomb Noble, Steven Levitt, Virginia Postrel and Megan McArdle. There are more links over at Instapundit.

Update 2 (November 17): There are many more links to pieces on Friedman over at Arts and Letters Daily. Also, Ravi Venkatesh presents everyday illustrations of the Friedman quote I'd linked to above.

Update 3 (November 17): Friedman on India. (Link via separate emails from Quizman and Gautam.)