Unlike classical liberals who feared the political and economic effects of monopoly power, henceforth Friedman adopted a relatively sanguine attitude. Classical liberals expressed misgivings about the concentrations of power that monopoly represented. With his scope narrowed to economic considerations, Friedman countered that inimical competition curbed monopoly power. The compelling empirical data that had supposedly swayed his opinion was nowhere to be seen. Classical liberals had suggested instead that monopoly eventually suppressed competition. Director and Friedman turned this distinction on its head, asserting that competition eventually suppressed monopoly.

Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, loc. 1118