Milton Friedman Dies
Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman died earlier today.
CNNmoney points out that he “helped interpret and popularize modern free-market economics that came to dominate much of U.S. public policy in the second half of the 20th century.
Free-market economic theories, which included tight fiscal discipline and deregulation of markets, grew influential in the United States after Ronald Reagan became president in the United States.
Friedman was regarded as the leader of the Chicago School of monetary economics and the leading proponent of free-market theory.
Friedman’s ideas, which were embraced by President Reagan and U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s, were considered controversial because of the deep cuts in government spending and the restricted role the government was to play in buffering citizens from economic forces.
The changes brought about by Friedman’s economic work represented a departure from the Keyensian economic philosophy, which included generous provisions for the unemployed and wage and price controls.”
Friedman won the Nobel Prize in 1976. Cause of death: heart failure.
UPDATE
The Dutch news network NOS Journaal spends attention to Friedman’s death as well and describes him as one of the world’s most influencial economists.
7 Responses to “Milton Friedman Dies”
What a Giant!
I didn’t always agree with him,
But what a Giant.
Farewell Milton. Ironically, before hearing this, and after the corporate responsibility debate on the Fox thread, I was reading an awesome debate between Friedman and Whole Foods’ John Mackey (oh and a mental midget by comparison, T.J. Rodgers). It’s a fascinating discussion. Read it HERE
Well, at least we know what killed Friedman. Hearing a businessman spout such heresy had to be a shock to the system.
Words can not elucidate Friedman’s influence on the dismal science. His contributions will continue to shape the study of Economics for years to come.
GD: thanks for the link.:)
It was a great link and discussion. I also wonder how much of a bridge can be build between the Mackey philosophy and the Friedman philsophy by “simply” introducing full cost accounting. Currently, business is able to ignore large parts of the true costs to running their business. When they use a natural resource, they pay for the resource’s production and distribution, but no one pays for the fact that that resource is now gone. If the profit/loss statement included the full cost of wiping out a resource, then 1) they’d have a direct incentive to minimize the use of resources and 2) it would be driven by the normal desire to maximize profits without having to build in new laws to force the conservation of resources. Similarly, if there was any value on the ledgers for land being a Civil War battle site, for instance, perhaps the grocery store would decide to build over a little to save some money without the government forcing them to not pave over the historic site.
I wonder if it is possible to build an economic model that can look out 50, 100 years to see the long-term costs of a decision. Then instead of some committee making up the value of a church or a historic site or “having forests to hike in”, it could be a real market estimation….
He’s the splitting image of Corrato Soprano.