Milton Friedman

1912-2006

Milton Friedman is an American economist. Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago and spokesman of the ‘Chicago School’ which believes in a free market economy. Friedman is the most influential exponent of the monetarist school of economic thought. The monetarists maintain that the economic cycle is primarily determined by the money supply and the interest rate. The impact of fiscal policy is confined to its effect on the supply of money. His best-known book, A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960 (1963), written with Anna Schwartz, traces changes in the supply of money and assesses the impact of those changes on economic events. In 1976, Friedman won the Nobel Memorial Prize in economics. He has written many books, pamphlets and articles expounding his ideas. He frequently acts as advisor to the US Government on matters of economic policy. Today more and more countries adopt monetarist policies.