I was listening on BBC Radio 4 when they ran a story on the death of economist Milton Friedman. The usual snippets were gone over, e.g. Reagan and Thatcher (who said), "he was an intellectual freedom fighter"(?). But they neglected to make, in almost eight minutes of discussion, any mention of the impact of Milton Friedman's theories in Latin America. Simply an incredible oversight?

I thought I'd post two contrasting takes of Friedman's legacy. First, here's the obituary from El Iberoamericano. Here's a taste:

"En "Capitalismo y libertad" (1972) Friedman enunció muchas de sus principales ideas, tales como su oposición al servicio militar obligatorio, lo cual condujo eventualmente a Estados Unidos a tener una fuerza armada de voluntarios; el cambio flotante de las monedas; el impuesto sobre la renta negativo que es una ayuda para los más pobres y los cupones para la educación.

Estos últimos conducen a impresionantes mejoras en la educación pública, ya que las escuelas en lugar de recibir dinero directamente del Estado tienen que competir en calidad para que los padres inscriban a sus hijos, pagando a la escuela pública o privada de su preferencia con los cupones que reciben del Estado."

Interesting, there's no mention of Latin America here either in this obituary. Now here's Greg Grandin's take from his article in Counter Punch (17-11-06):

"While he was in Chile Friedman gave a speech titled "The Fragility of Freedom" where he described the "role in the destruction of a free society that was played by the emergence of the welfare state." Chile's present difficulties, he argued, "were due almost entirely to the forty-year trend toward collectivism, socialism and the welfare state . . . a course that would lead to coercion rather than freedom." The Pinochet regime, he argued, represented a turning point in a protracted campaign, a tearing off of democracy's false husks to reach true freedom's inner core."

Whatever your take, Friedman's legacy on Latin America was enormous (disastrous or incredible depends on your political viewpoint). However, what can be noted is that those in favour of his economics don't seem to want you to know that 'Latin legacy'- while those against most certainly do. Draw your own conclusions...