Jan
15
Google, China and Milton Friedman
“There is one and only one social responsibility of business—to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud.” - Milton Friedman, The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits
Google has received wide and well-deserved praise for their rejection of China’s censorship. In my opinion, a more profound implication of Google’s move is an implicit rejection of the orthodox view - most famously associated Milton Friedman - that a business’ sole responsibility is to increase profits (without breaking the law).
