Macroeconomics has come a long way in the last century. We’ve learned a lot about the forces behind growth, productivity, and what makes for effective fiscal and monetary policy. Of course, our understanding has never been complete, and because the economy is always changing, we must often adapt or discard knowledge that no longer applies. There’s also a lot of knowledge that we’ve largely forgotten but that nevertheless remains true. Nicholas Wapshott’s latest book, Samuelson Friedman: The Battle over the Free Market, reminds us of the many lessons from the 1960s and 1970s that still apply today, even if we seem determined to forget them.
