An initial ‘Keynesian illness’? Friedman on taxation and the inflationary gap

This paper examines Friedman’s writings in the years 1941–43 and compares them with those after the war with a view to assessing differences and similarities. Albeit a first assessment, Friedman’s claim that he was suffering from a ‘Keynesian illness’ in his ‘Washington phase’ appears to have been less ‘serious’ and deep than he himself feared, although he was to some extent influenced by the ‘prevailing Keynesian temper of the time’.