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Milton Friedman on the free-market case for taxing pollution

republicEn · 75.9K views · 2017-01-24 · 2:29

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Overview

A two-minute clip from a 1979 Phil Donahue interview in which Milton Friedman makes the free-market case for taxing pollution. He treats pollution as an externality that can be given a price.

On Hacker News

HN commenters use it to show that even the best-known free-market economist supported putting a price on pollution.

Discussed on HN; no positive recommendation is recorded in this export · HN mentions 2022–2026

Topics

Microeconomics & behavioral economicsClimate policy, solutions & debate
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milton friedmanexternalitiespollution taxfree marketseconomics

What people said

throw0101a · 2026-04 · Reference

> Agreed. The market should decide if beef consumption is viable. Until The Market™, especially in the US, starts dealing with externalities (like climate change), it should not. Something like carbon pricing (per Greenspan and Volcker): * [LINK] * [LINK] Even Mr. Free Market himself, Milton Friedman, thought a price on pollution was a good idea: * [VIDEO]

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throw0101c · 2026-03 · Reference

Even Mr. Free Market™ himself, Milton Friedman, didn't have a problem with putting a price on pollution as it is a form of externality: * [VIDEO] Greenspan, Volcker, Bernanke, Yellen, etc , also endorsed a price on carbon (which revenue would be refunded to people): * [LINK]

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olalonde · 2022-06 · Reference

AFAIK, Mises.org is generally well regarded among libertarians. Libertarians generally argue that externalities should either be illegal or taxed, when there are no other practical solutions. Here's a video of Milton Friedman on the topic: [VIDEO]

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Sources

Video by republicEn, played through YouTube.

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