Milton Friedman

Milton Friedman (1912—2006) was a Nobel Laureate economist, who not only made important theoretical contributions but was deeply influential across the world in policy. He was a prominent figure in the conservative and libertarian movements of the late 20th century and promoted classical liberal ideas in his many popular works, including not only books but videos, lectures and magazine columns. Friedman published Capitalism and Freedom in 1962 and the book has sold half a million copies since.

Friedman was a prominent advocate and founder of the Chicago School of Economics which challenged Keynesian orthodoxy in economics in the post-war economics profession, not only on its own theoretical terms but with their own doctrine of monetarism. Friedman predicted stagflation (rising inflation and unemployment at the same time) when the Keynesian model could not. He was also a famous critic of and historian of the Federal Reserve System. Friedman famously...