View source for Milton Friedman

{{Short description|American economist and statistician (1912–2006)}}
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{{Use American English|date=November 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{Infobox economist
| name              = Milton Friedman
| image             = Portrait of Milton Friedman (4x5 cropped).jpg
| caption           = Friedman in 1986
| birth_date        = {{birth date|1912|7|31}}
| birth_place       = [[New York City]], U.S.
| death_date        = {{death date and age|2006|11|16|1912|7|31}}
| death_place       = [[San Francisco]], California, U.S.
| spouse            = {{Marriage|[[Rose Friedman]]|1936}}
| children={{hlist|[[David D. Friedman]]|[[Jan Martel (bridge)|Jan Martel]]}}
| institution       = {{plainlist|
* National Resources Planning Board (1935–1937)
* {{longitem|[[National Bureau of Economic Research]] (1937–1940)}}
* [[Columbia University]] (1937–1941; 1943–1945; 1964–1965)
* [[University of Wisconsin, Madison]] (1940)
* [[U.S. Department of the Treasury]] (1941–1943)
* [[University of Chicago]] (1946–1977)
* [[University of Cambridge]] (1954–1955)
* [[Hoover Institution]], [[Stanford University]] (1977–2006)}}
| school_tradition  = [[Chicago school of economics|Chicago School]]; [[Classical Liberalism|Classical{{nbsp}}Liberalism]]
| doctoral_advisor  = [[Simon Kuznets]]
| doctoral_students = [[Phillip Cagan]]<br />[[Harry Markowitz]]<br />[[Lester G. Telser]]<ref name="Ebenstein 2007 89">{{Cite book|last=Ebenstein|first=Lanny|title=Milton Friedman: A Biography|publisher=St. Martin's Publishing Group|year=2007|page=89|isbn=978-0230604094}}</ref><br />[[David I. Meiselman]]<br />[[Neil Wallace]]<br />[[Miguel Sidrauski]]<br />[[Edgar L. Feige]]<br />[[Thomas Sowell]]
| influences        = {{hlist|[[Jeremy Bentham|Bentham]]|[[Arthur F. Burns|Burns]]|[[Henry George|George]]|[[Friedrich Hayek|Hayek]]|[[Harold Hotelling|Hotelling]]|[[Homer Jones (economist)|H. Jones]]|[[Frank Knight|Knight]]|[[Simon Kuznets|Kuznets]]|[[Henry Schultz|Schultz]]|[[Henry Calvert Simons|H.C. Simons]]|[[Adam Smith|Smith]]||[[Karl Marx|Marx]]||[[John Maynard Keynes|Keynes]]|[[George Stigler|Stigler]]|[[Jacob Viner|Viner]]}}
| contributions     = {{plainlist|
* [[Cost-push inflation]]
* [[Floating exchange rate]]s
* [[Helicopter money]]
* [[Microeconomics|Price theory]]
* [[Monetarism]]
* [[Macroeconomics|Applied macroeconomics]]
* [[Natural rate of unemployment]]
* [[Permanent income hypothesis]]
* [[Conscription in the United States#End of conscription|Volunteer military]]
* [[Friedman doctrine]]
* [[Friedman rule]]
* [[Friedman test]]
* [[Friedman's k-percent rule]]
* [[Friedman–Savage utility function]]
}}
| awards            = {{plainlist|
* Member of [[the American Philosophical Society]] (1957)<ref>{{cite web | url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Milton+Friedman&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced | title=APS Member History }}</ref>
* [[Member of the National Academy of Sciences]] (1973)
* [[National Medal of Science]] (1988)
* [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] (1988)
* [[Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences]] (1976)
* [[John Bates Clark Medal]] (1951)}}
| signature         = Milton friedman signature.svg
| repec_prefix      = e
| repec_id          = pfr10
|party=[[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]<ref name="Reason1995June">{{Cite magazine |last=Doherty |first=Brian |date=June 1995 |title=Best of Both Worlds: An Interview with Milton Friedman |url=https://reason.com/1995/06/01/best-of-both-worlds/ |access-date=March 29, 2023 |magazine=Reason |language=en-US}}</ref>
|education={{plainlist|
* [[Rutgers University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])
* [[University of Chicago]]  ([[Master of Arts|MA]])
* [[Columbia University]]  (PhD)
}}
|field=[[Macroeconomics]]
}}
'''Milton Friedman''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|f|r|iː|d|m|ən|audio=IPA pronounce M.Friedman.wav}}; July 31, 1912 – November 16, 2006) was an American economist and statistician who received the 1976 [[Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences]] for his research on [[Consumption (economics)|consumption]] analysis, [[Money supply|monetary]] history and theory and the complexity of [[stabilization policy]].<ref name="nobel1">{{cite web|title=The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 1976|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/1976/|year=1976|publisher=Nobel Prize|access-date=February 20, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080412092230/http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/1976/|archive-date=April 12, 2008|url-status=live}}</ref> With [[George Stigler]], Friedman was among the intellectual leaders of the [[Chicago school of economics]], a [[Neoclassical economics|neoclassical]] [[Schools of economic thought|school of economic thought]] associated with the faculty at the [[University of Chicago]] that rejected [[Keynesian economics|Keynesianism]] in favor of [[monetarism]] before shifting their focus to [[new classical macroeconomics]] in the mid-1970s.<ref>{{Cite web|website=Commanding Heights |title=The Chicago School |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/shared/minitext/ess_chicagoschool.html|access-date=May 17, 2021|publisher=PBS}}</ref> Several students, young professors and academics who were recruited or mentored by Friedman at Chicago went on to become leading economists, including [[List of Nobel Memorial Prize laureates in Economic Sciences|Nobel laureates]] [[Gary Becker]] (1992),<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gary Becker Nobel Prize.org |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/1992/becker/biographical/}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Our Legacy|url=https://bfi.uchicago.edu/about/legacy/ |access-date=May 17, 2021| publisher=Becker Friedman Institute}}</ref> [[Robert Fogel]] (1993),<ref>{{Cite web |title=Robert W. Fogel – Facts - NobelPrize.org |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/1993/fogel/facts/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250902181703/https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/1993/fogel/facts/ |archive-date=September 2, 2025 |access-date=2025-11-18 |website=NobelPrize.org |language=en-US |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>''Chicago Remembers Milton Friedman'', Sanderson, Allen; 2012, University of Chicago, [http://home.uchicago.edu/arsx/br/Milton%20Piece%20for%20the%20BFI.pdf?page=reviewdisplay&pids=3737520] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241211134733/http://home.uchicago.edu/arsx/br/Milton%20Piece%20for%20the%20BFI.pdf?page=reviewdisplay&pids=3737520|date=December 11, 2024}}</ref> and [[Robert Lucas Jr.]] (1995).<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 1995 - NobelPrize.org |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/1995/summary/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250930235950/https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/1995/summary/ |archive-date=September 30, 2025 |access-date=2025-11-18 |website=NobelPrize.org |language=en-US |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Van Overtveldt|first=Johan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GKcrdEN_3WUC|title=The Chicago School: How the University of Chicago Assembled the Thinkers Who Revolutionized Economics and Business|date=2009|publisher=Agate Publishing|isbn=978-1572846494|page=8}}</ref>

Friedman's challenges to what he called "naive [[Keynesian economics|Keynesian]] theory"<ref name=pbsinterview>{{cite web|title=Milton Friedman|website=Commanding Heights|publisher=PBS|date=October 1, 2000|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/shared/minitext/int_miltonfriedman.html#7|access-date=September 19, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110908104355/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/shared/minitext/int_miltonfriedman.html#7|archive-date=September 8, 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> began with his interpretation of [[consumption function|consumption]], which tracks how consumers spend. He introduced a theory which would later become part of [[mainstream economics]] and he was among the first to propagate the theory of [[consumption smoothing]].<ref name="nobel1" /><ref name="Friedman-2018" /> During the 1960s, he became the main advocate opposing both Marxist and Keynesian government and economic policies,<ref>[http://www.dallasfed.org/research/ei/ei0202.html "Milton Friedman – Economist as Public Intellectual"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090529013032/http://www.dallasfed.org/research/ei/ei0202.html|date=May 29, 2009}}. Dallasfed.org (April 1, 2016). Retrieved on September 6, 2017.</ref> and described his approach (along with mainstream economics) as using "Keynesian language and apparatus" yet rejecting its initial conclusions.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Making of Modern Economics: The Lives and Ideas of the Great Thinkers|author=Mark Skousen|page=407|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|isbn=978-0765622273|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6sisXMv_AecC&q=friedman%20we.are.all.keynesians.now&pg=PA407|date=2009}}</ref> He theorized that there existed a [[natural rate of unemployment]] and argued that unemployment below this rate would cause inflation to accelerate.{{Efn|Among macroeconomists, the "natural" rate has been increasingly replaced by James Tobin's [[non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment]] (NAIRU), which is seen as having fewer normative connotations.|group={{notelist}}}}<ref>{{Cite book|last=Friedman|first=Milton|title=The Role of Monetary Policy|series=Essential Readings in Economics|year=1968|isbn=978-0333594520|pages=215–231|publisher=Macmillan Education UK }}</ref> He argued that the [[Phillips curve]] was in the long run vertical at the "natural rate" and predicted what would come to be known as [[stagflation]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Krugman|first=Paul R.|url=https://archive.org/details/peddlingprosperi0000krug_1995/page/44/mode/2up|title=Peddling prosperity: economic sense and nonsense in the age of diminished expectations|publisher=[[W. W. Norton]]|year=1995|isbn=978-0393312928|location=New York|page=43}}</ref> Friedman promoted a macroeconomic viewpoint known as [[monetarism]] and argued that a steady, small expansion of the [[money supply]] was the preferred policy, as compared to rapid and unexpected changes.<ref name="bestofbothworlds">{{Cite news|author=Doherty|first=Brian|author-link=Brian Doherty (journalist)|date=June 1, 1995|title=Best of Both Worlds|newspaper=[[Reason (magazine)|Reason Magazine]]|url=http://www.reason.com/news/show/29691.html|url-status=live|access-date=October 24, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141011005521/http://reason.com/archives/1995/06/01/best-of-both-worlds|archive-date=October 11, 2014}}</ref> His ideas concerning [[monetary policy]], taxation, [[privatization]], and [[deregulation]] influenced government policies, especially during the 1980s. His [[Monetarism|monetary theory]] influenced the [[Federal Reserve]]'s [[monetary policy]] in response to the [[2008 financial crisis]].<ref>Edward Nelson (April 13, 2011). [http://www.federalreserve.gov/PubS/feds/2011/201126/201126pap.pdf "Friedman's Monetary Economics in Practice"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141231143039/http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/feds/2011/201126/201126pap.pdf |date=December 31, 2014}}. "in important respects, the overall monetary and financial policy response to the crisis can be viewed as Friedman's monetary economics in practice. ... Friedman's recommendations for responding to a [[financial crisis]] largely lined up with the principal financial and monetary policy measures taken since 2007". "Review" in ''Journal of Economic Literature'' (December 2012). 50#4. pp. 1106–1109.</ref>

After retiring from the University of Chicago in 1977, and becoming [[Emeritus|emeritus professor]] in economics in 1983,<ref name="Caldwell-2017" /> Friedman served as an advisor to [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] U.S. president [[Ronald Reagan]] and [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] British prime minister [[Margaret Thatcher]].<ref name="ReferenceA">{{Cite book|last=Ebenstein|first=Lanny|title=Milton Friedman: A Biography|publisher=St. Martin's Publishing Group|year=2007|isbn=978-0230604094|page=208}}</ref> His political philosophy extolled the virtues of a [[free market]] economic system with minimal government intervention in social matters. In his 1962 book ''[[Capitalism and Freedom]]'', Friedman advocated policies such as a [[volunteer military]], freely [[floating exchange rate]]s, abolition of [[medical license]]s, a [[negative income tax]], [[school voucher]]s,<ref>[http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/bios/Friedman.html "Milton Friedman (1912–2006)"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070103173849/http://www.econlib.org/library/enc/bios/Friedman.html |date=January 3, 2007}}. Econlib.org. Retrieved on September 6, 2017.</ref> and opposition to the [[war on drugs]] and support for [[Drug liberalization|drug liberalization policies]]. His support for [[school choice]] led him to found the [[Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice]], later renamed [[EdChoice]].<ref name=sullivan>{{cite magazine|author=Maureen Sullivan|title=Milton Friedman's Name Disappears From Foundation, But His School-Choice Beliefs Live On|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/maureensullivan/2016/07/30/milton-friedmans-name-disappears-from-foundation-but-his-school-choice-beliefs-live-on/#ed848a179437|access-date=September 14, 2016|magazine=Forbes|date=July 30, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160921200835/http://www.forbes.com/sites/maureensullivan/2016/07/30/milton-friedmans-name-disappears-from-foundation-but-his-school-choice-beliefs-live-on/#ed848a179437|archive-date=September 21, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Friedman Foundation changes name to focus on benefits of educational choice|url=https://www.atlasnetwork.org/news/article/friedman-foundation-changes-name-to-focus-on-benefits-of-educational-choice|access-date=May 23, 2021|website=Atlas Network|date=July 29, 2016|archive-date=May 23, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210523155959/https://www.atlasnetwork.org/news/article/friedman-foundation-changes-name-to-focus-on-benefits-of-educational-choice|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[Milton Friedman bibliography|Friedman's works]] cover a broad range of economic topics and public policy issues.<ref name="Caldwell-2017">{{cite encyclopedia|title=Milton Friedman|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Milton-Friedman|access-date=August 2, 2017|last=Caldwell|first=Bruce|date=|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170802212154/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Milton-Friedman|archive-date=August 2, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> His books and essays have had global influence, including in former [[communist state]]s.<ref>"Capitalism and Friedman" (editorial). ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]''. November 17, 2006.</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Remarks at Milton Friedman Memorial Service|author=Václav Klaus|date=January 29, 2007|url=http://www.klaus.cz/klaus2/asp/clanek.asp?id=3DpXss5H9RJv|access-date=August 22, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070702192445/http://klaus.cz/klaus2/asp/clanek.asp?id=3DpXss5H9RJv|archive-date=July 2, 2007|url-status=dead|author-link=Václav Klaus}}</ref><ref name=defaming>Johan Norberg (October 2008). [http://reason.com/archives/2008/09/26/defaming-milton-friedman "Defaming Milton Friedman: Naomi Klein's disastrous yet popular polemic against the great free market economist"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100411211951/http://reason.com/archives/2008/09/26/defaming-milton-friedman |date=April 11, 2010 }}. ''Reason Magazine''. Washington, D.C.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Friedman|1999}}, p. 506.</ref> A 2011 survey of economists commissioned by the [[Econ Journal Watch|EJW]] ranked Friedman as the second-most popular economist of the 20th century, following only [[John Maynard Keynes]].<ref>William L Davis, Bob Figgins, David Hedengren and Daniel B. Klein (May 2011). [http://econjwatch.org/articles/economics-professors-favorite-economic-thinkers-journals-and-blogs-along-with-party-and-policy-views "Economic Professors' Favorite Economic Thinkers, Journals, and Blogs"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111218212117/http://econjwatch.org/articles/economics-professors-favorite-economic-thinkers-journals-and-blogs-along-with-party-and-policy-views |date=December 18, 2011}}. ''Econ Journal Watch''. 8(2). pp. 126–146.</ref> Upon his death, ''[[The Economist]]'' described him as "the most influential economist of the second half of the 20th century ... possibly of all of it".<ref>{{cite news|title=Milton Friedman, a giant among economists |url=https://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8313925|date=November 23, 2006|newspaper=The Economist|access-date=February 20, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080217004356/http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8313925|archive-date=February 17, 2008|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Early life ==
Friedman was born in [[Brooklyn]], [[New York City]], on July 31, 1912. His parents, Sára Ethel (née Landau) and Jenő Saul Friedman, were [[Jewish]] working-class immigrants from Beregszász in [[Transcarpathia|Carpathian Ruthenia]], [[Kingdom of Hungary]] (now [[Berehove]] in Ukraine).<ref name="Friedman-Nobel-1976" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Ebenstein|first=Lanny|title=Milton Friedman: A Biography|publisher=St. Martin's Publishing Group|year=2007|isbn=978-0230604094}}</ref> They emigrated to the [[United States]] in their early teens.<ref name="Friedman-Nobel-1976">{{Cite web|title=The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 1976|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/1976/friedman/biographical/|access-date=May 13, 2021|website=NobelPrize.org|language=en-US}}</ref> They both worked as [[dry goods]] merchants. Milton was the youngest of four children and only son.<ref name="Friedman-AA-2021">{{Cite web|title=Milton Friedman, Ph.D.|url=https://achievement.org/achiever/milton-friedman-ph-d/|access-date=May 13, 2021|website=Academy of Achievement|language=en-US}}</ref> Shortly after his birth, the family relocated to [[Rahway, New Jersey]].<ref name="Doherty-2007">{{Cite news|last=Doherty|first=Brian|date=2007|title=The Life and Times of Milton Friedman|work=Reason.com|publisher=[[Reason Foundation]]|url=https://reason.com/2007/02/21/the-life-and-times-of-milton-f/}}</ref> Friedman's father died during Friedman's senior year of high school, leaving Friedman and two older sisters to care for their mother.<ref name="Friedman-Nobel-1976" />

In his early teens, Friedman was injured in a car accident, which scarred his upper lip.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Ebenstein|first=Lanny|title=Milton Friedman: A Biography|publisher=St. Martin's Publishing Group|year=2007|isbn=978-0230604094|page=10}}</ref><ref>Milton Friedman, Rose Friedman, ''Two Lucky People. Memoirs'', Chicago 1998, p. 22.</ref> A talented student and an avid reader, Friedman graduated from [[Rahway High School]] in 1928, just before his 16th birthday.<ref name="Friedman-AA-2021" /><ref>{{Cite book|author=Eamonn Butler|year=2011|title=Milton Friedman|series=Harriman Economic Essentials|chapter=Ch. 1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Ebenstein|first=Lanny|title=Milton Friedman: A Biography|publisher=St. Martin's Publishing Group|year=2007|isbn=978-0230604094|pages=5–12}}</ref> He was the first in his family to attend a university. Friedman was awarded a competitive scholarship to [[Rutgers University]] and graduated in 1932.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Milton Friedman|url=https://alumni.rutgers.edu/awards-recognition/hall-of-distinguished-alumni/milton-friedman/|access-date=May 10, 2021|website=Rutgers Alumni|language=en-US|archive-date=December 17, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221217061214/https://alumni.rutgers.edu/awards-recognition/hall-of-distinguished-alumni/milton-friedman/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Friedman initially intended to become an [[actuary]] or mathematician, however, the state of the economy, which was at this point in a [[Great Depression in the United States|depression]], convinced him to become an economist.<ref name="Friedman-AA-2021" /><ref name="Doherty-2007" /> He was offered two scholarships to do graduate work, one in mathematics at [[Brown University]] and the other in economics at the [[University of Chicago]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Milton Friedman and his start in economics|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhYOtG2pt3w|date=August 2006|publisher=Young America's Foundation|access-date=March 12, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130223172833/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhYOtG2pt3w|archive-date=February 23, 2013|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Harms-2006" /> Friedman chose the latter, earning a Master of Arts degree in 1933. He was strongly influenced by [[Jacob Viner]], [[Frank Knight]], and [[Henry Calvert Simons|Henry Simons]]. Friedman met his future wife, economist [[Rose Friedman|Rose Director]], while at the University of Chicago.<ref name="UChi News-2021">{{Cite web|title=Nov. 8 conference to honor University of Chicago economist Milton Friedman on the occasion of his 90th birthday|url=http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/02/021030.friedman.shtml|access-date=February 3, 2021|website=www-news.uchicago.edu}}</ref> Friedman was also the student of [[Friedrich Hayek]].<ref name="Jacobin2024">{{cite web |url=https://jacobin.com/2024/05/friedrich-von-hayek-freedom-neoliberalism-democracy|title=Friedrich August von Hayek Was an Enemy of Freedom|last=Solty |first=Ingar |date=May 8, 2024|website=[[Jacobin]]|publisher=Jacobin|quote="He and his followers have always done this in the name of 'liberty.' This word runs throughout Hayek's work, which his student Milton Friedman called the 'battle for freedom.'"}}</ref>

During the 1933–1934 academic year, he had a [[Fellow#Graduate school fellowships|fellowship]] at [[Columbia University]], where he studied statistics with statistician and economist [[Harold Hotelling]]. He was back in Chicago for the 1934–1935 academic year, working as a research assistant for [[Henry Schultz]], who was then working on ''Theory and Measurement of Demand''.<ref>{{Cite web|date=January 23, 2016|title=Chicago. Theory and Measurement of Demand. Henry Schultz, 1934|url=http://www.irwincollier.com/chicago-theory-and-measurement-of-demand-henry-schultz-1934/|access-date=May 16, 2021|website=Economics in the Rear-View Mirror|language=en-US}}</ref>

During the 1934–1935 academic year, Friedman formed what would later prove to be lifetime friendships with [[George Stigler]] and [[W. Allen Wallis]], both of whom later taught with Friedman at the University of Chicago.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Ebenstein|first=Lanny|title=Milton Friedman: A Biography|publisher=St. Martin's Publishing Group|year=2007|isbn=978-0230604094|pages=13–30}}</ref> Friedman was also influenced by two lifelong friends, Arthur Burns and Homer Johnson. They helped Friedman better understand the depth of economic thinking.<ref>[https://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/bios/Friedman.html Milton Friedman] EconLib</ref>

== Public service ==
Friedman was unable to find academic employment, so in 1935 he followed his friend W. Allen Wallis to Washington, D.C., where [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]'s [[New Deal]] was "a lifesaver" for many young economists.<ref>{{cite web|title=Nobel laureate economist Milton Friedman dies at 94|author=Mark Feeney|date=November 16, 2006|url=https://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/breaking_news/2006/11/nobel_lauriet_e.html|website=The Boston Globe|access-date=February 20, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070330084012/http://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/breaking_news/2006/11/nobel_lauriet_e.html|archive-date=March 30, 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> At this stage, Friedman said he and his wife "regarded the job-creation programs such as the [[Works Progress Administration|WPA]], [[Civilian Conservation Corps|CCC]], and [[Public Works Administration|PWA]] appropriate responses to the critical situation", but not "the [[price fixing|price-]] and wage-fixing measures of the [[National Recovery Administration]] and the [[Agricultural Adjustment Act|Agricultural Adjustment Administration]]".<ref>{{harvnb|Friedman|1999|p=59}}</ref> Foreshadowing his later ideas, he believed [[price controls]] interfered with an [[Price signal|essential signaling mechanism]] to help resources be used where they were most valued. Indeed, Friedman later concluded that all government intervention associated with the New Deal was [[The Great Contraction|"the wrong cure for the wrong disease"]], arguing the Federal Reserve was to blame, and that they should have expanded the money supply in reaction to what he later described in ''A Monetary History of the United States'' as "[[Great Contraction|The Great Contraction]]".<ref>{{cite web|title=Right from the Start? What Milton Friedman can teach progressives|url=http://delong.typepad.com/pdf/20070308_108-115.delong.FINAL.pdf|publisher=J. Bradford DeLong|access-date=February 20, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080216100725/http://delong.typepad.com/pdf/20070308_108-115.delong.FINAL.pdf|archive-date=February 16, 2008|url-status=live}}</ref> Later, Friedman and his colleague [[Anna Schwartz]] wrote ''[[A Monetary History of the United States|A Monetary History of the United States, 1867–1960]]'', which argued that the [[Great Depression]] was caused by a severe [[Monetary policy|monetary contraction]] due to banking crises and poor policy on the part of the [[Federal Reserve]].<ref>{{harvnb|Bernanke|2004|p=7}}</ref> [[Robert J. Shiller]] describes the book as the "most influential account" of the Great Depression.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Shiller|first=Robert J.|date=2017|title=Narrative Economics|journal=American Economic Review|language=en|volume=107|issue=4|pages=967–1004|doi=10.1257/aer.107.4.967|issn=0002-8282}}</ref>
During 1935, he began working for the National Resources Planning Board,<ref>Daniel J. Hammond, Claire H. Hammond (eds.) (2006), ''Making Chicago Price Theory: Friedman-Stigler Correspondence 1945–1957'', Routledge, p. xiii. {{ISBN|1135994293}}</ref> which was then working on a large consumer budget survey. Ideas from this project later became a part of his ''Theory of the Consumption Function,'' a book which first described [[consumption smoothing]] and the [[permanent income hypothesis]]. Friedman began employment with the [[National Bureau of Economic Research]] during the autumn of 1937 to assist [[Simon Kuznets]] in his work on professional income. This work resulted in their jointly authored publication ''Incomes from Independent Professional Practice'', which introduced the concepts of permanent and transitory income, a major component of the [[permanent income hypothesis]] that Friedman worked out in greater detail in the 1950s. The book hypothesizes that professional licensing artificially restricts the supply of services and raises prices.<ref name="Friedman-Kuznets-1945">''Incomes from Independent Professional Practice'', 1945, Milton Friedman, Simon Kuznets</ref>

''Incomes from Independent Professional Practice'' remained quite controversial within the economics community because of Friedman's hypothesis that [[barriers to entry]], which were exercised and enforced by the [[American Medical Association]], led to higher than average wages for physicians, compared to other professional groups.<ref name="Caldwell-2017" /><ref name="Friedman-Kuznets-1945" /> [[Barriers to entry]] are a [[fixed cost]] which must be incurred regardless of any outside factors such as [[Human capital|work experience]], or other factors of [[human capital]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Mankiw|first=Gregory|title=Principles of Economics|publisher=Harcourt|year=1997|isbn=0030270871|pages=216–219}}</ref>

During 1940, Friedman was appointed as an assistant professor teaching economics at the [[University of Wisconsin–Madison]], but encountered [[antisemitism]] in the Economics department and returned to government service.<ref>{{harvnb|Friedman|1999|p=42}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Friedman|1999|pp=84–85}}</ref> From 1941 to 1943 Friedman worked on wartime tax policy for the [[federal government]], as an advisor to senior officials of the [[United States Department of the Treasury]]. As a Treasury spokesman during 1942, he advocated a [[Keynesian economics|Keynesian]] policy of taxation. He helped to invent the payroll [[withholding tax]] system, since the federal government needed money to fund the war.<ref name="Two Lucky People: Memoirs">{{cite book |author1=Milton Friedman|author2=Rose D. Friedman|title=Two Lucky People: Memoirs|url=https://archive.org/details/twoluckypeopleme00frie|url-access=registration|year=1999|publisher=University of Chicago Press|pages=[https://archive.org/details/twoluckypeopleme00frie/page/122 122]–123|isbn=978-0226264158}}</ref> He later said, "I have no apologies for it, but I really wish we hadn't found it necessary and I wish there were some way of abolishing withholding now."<ref name="reason">{{cite web|author=Brian Doherty|date=June 1995|title=Best of Both Worlds|url=http://reason.com/archives/1995/06/01/best-of-both-worlds|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100709180107/http://reason.com/archives/1995/06/01/best-of-both-worlds|archive-date=July 9, 2010|access-date=July 28, 2010|website=Reason.com|publisher=[[Reason Foundation]]}}</ref> In Milton and Rose Friedman's jointly written memoir, he wrote, "Rose has repeatedly chided me over the years about the role that I played in making possible the current overgrown government we both criticize so strongly."<ref name="Two Lucky People: Memoirs"/>

== Academic career ==
=== Early years ===
In 1940, Friedman accepted a position at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, but left because of differences with faculty regarding United States involvement in World War II. Friedman believed the United States should enter the war.<ref name="Achievement.org">{{cite web |url=https://www.achievement.org/achiever/milton-friedman-ph-d/#interview |website=www.achievement.org|publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]]|title=Milton Friedman Biography and Interview – American Academy of Achievement}}</ref> In 1943, Friedman joined the Division of War Research at [[Columbia University]] (headed by [[W. Allen Wallis]] and [[Harold Hotelling]]), where he spent the rest of [[World War II]] working as a mathematical statistician, focusing on problems of weapons design, military tactics, and metallurgical experiments.<ref name="Achievement.org"/><ref>{{cite book |author=Philip Mirowski|title=Machine Dreams: Economics Becomes a Cyborg Science|url=https://archive.org/details/machinedreamseco0000miro|url-access=registration|year=2002|publisher=Cambridge University Press|pages=[https://archive.org/details/machinedreamseco0000miro/page/202 202]–203|isbn=978-0521775267}}</ref> He was a member of the [[Statistical Research Group]]. He was consulted during the [[Battle of the Bulge]] as an expert on the [[proximity fuze]]s of [[Air burst|air burst shells]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ebenstein |first=Alan O. |title=Milton Friedman: a biography |date=2009 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-0-230-60409-4 |edition=1st Paperback |location=Basingstoke |pages=45}}</ref>

In 1945, Friedman submitted ''Incomes from Independent Professional Practice'' (co-authored with Kuznets and completed during 1940) to Columbia as his doctoral dissertation. The university awarded him a PhD in 1946.<ref>{{cite web|title=Milton Friedman|url=http://c250.columbia.edu/c250_celebrates/remarkable_columbians/milton_friedman.html|access-date=March 7, 2019|website=c250.columbia.edu}}</ref><ref name="Harms-2006">{{cite web|last=Harms|first=William|date=November 16, 2006|title=Professor Emeritus Milton Friedman dies at 94|url=http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/06/061116.friedman.shtml|access-date=March 7, 2019|website=www-news.uchicago.edu}}</ref> Friedman spent the 1945–1946 academic year teaching at the [[University of Minnesota]] (where his friend George Stigler was employed). On February 12, 1945, his only son, [[David D. Friedman]], who would later follow in his father's footsteps as an economist, was born.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Block|first=Walter E.|date=2011|title=David Friedman and Libertarianism: A Critique|url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/libpa3&id=721&div=&collection=|journal=Libertarian Papers|volume=3|page=1|url-access=subscription|via=HeinOnline}}</ref>

=== University of Chicago ===
{{Chicago School (economics)|expanded=people}}
In 1946, Friedman accepted an offer to teach economic theory at the University of Chicago (a position opened by the departure of his former professor [[Jacob Viner]] to [[Princeton University]]). Friedman would work for the University of Chicago for the next 30 years.<ref name="Harms-2006" /> There, he contributed to the establishment of an intellectual community that produced a number of Nobel Memorial Prize winners, known collectively as the [[Chicago school of economics]].<ref name="Doherty-2007" />

At the time, [[Arthur F. Burns]], who was then the head of the [[National Bureau of Economic Research]], and later [[Chair of the Federal Reserve|chairman of the Federal Reserve]], asked Friedman to rejoin the Bureau's staff.<ref>{{Cite web|date=July 22, 2017|title=NBER. Mitchell to Burns about Friedman. 1945|url=http://www.irwincollier.com/nber-mitchell-to-burns-about-friedman-1945/|access-date=May 17, 2021|website=Economics in the Rear-View Mirror|language=en-US}}</ref> He accepted the invitation, and assumed responsibility for the Bureau's inquiry into the role of money in the [[business cycle]]. As a result, he initiated the "Workshop in Money and Banking" (the "Chicago Workshop"), which promoted a revival of monetary studies. During the latter half of the 1940s, Friedman began a collaboration with [[Anna Schwartz]], an [[Economic history|economic historian]] at the Bureau, that would ultimately result in the 1963 publication of a book co-authored by Friedman and Schwartz, ''A Monetary History of the United States, 1867–1960''.<ref name="bestofbothworlds" /><ref name="Doherty-2007" />

In 1951, Friedman was awarded the [[John Bates Clark Medal]], which at the time was awarded every other year to the best economist under the age of 40, by the [[American Economic Association]].

===University of Cambridge===
Friedman spent the 1954–1955 academic year as a Fulbright Visiting Fellow at [[Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge]]. At the time, the Cambridge economics faculty was divided into a Keynesian majority (including [[Joan Robinson]] and [[Richard Kahn, Baron Kahn|Richard Kahn]]) and an anti-Keynesian minority (headed by [[Dennis Robertson (economist)|Dennis Robertson]]). Friedman speculated he was invited to the fellowship because his views were unacceptable to both of the Cambridge factions. Later his weekly columns for ''Newsweek'' magazine (1966–84) were well read and increasingly influential among political and business people,<ref>Cato, "Letter from Washington," ''National Review,'' September 19, 1980, Vol. 32 Issue 19, p. 1119</ref> and helped earn the magazine a [[Gerald Loeb Special Award]] in 1968.<ref name="HC-19680522">{{cite news |url=https://newspapers.com/image/370559693/?terms=Nicholas%2BMolodovsky%2BLoeb%2BAward |title='Playboy', 'Monitor' Honored |last=Devaney |first=James J. |date=May 22, 1968 |work=[[Hartford Courant]] |access-date=March 20, 2019 |issue=143 |edition=final |volume=CXXXI |page=36 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> From 1968 to 1978, he and [[Paul Samuelson]] participated in the Economics Cassette Series, a biweekly subscription series where the economist would discuss the days' issues for about a half-hour at a time.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20130620070153/http://hoohila.stanford.edu/friedman/ecs.php Rose and Milton Friedman]. stanford.edu</ref><ref>[http://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/findingaids/samuelsonpaul/ Inventory of the Paul A. Samuelson Papers, 1933–2010 and undated | Finding Aids | Rubenstein Library] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130112220957/http://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/findingaids/samuelsonpaul/ |date=January 12, 2013 }}. Library.duke.edu. Retrieved on September 6, 2017.</ref>

==== ''A Theory of the Consumption Function'' ====
One of Milton Friedman's most popular works, ''A Theory of the Consumption Function'', challenged traditional Keynesian viewpoints about the household. This work was originally published in 1957 by [[Princeton University Press]], and it reanalyzed the relationship displayed "between aggregate consumption or aggregate savings and aggregate income".<ref name="Friedman-2018">{{cite book|author1=Friedman|first=Milton|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7_1ZDwAAQBAJ&q=a+theory+of+the+consumption+function+friedman&pg=PP1|title=A Theory of the Consumption Function|publisher=[[Princeton University Press]]|year=2018|isbn=978-0691188485|pages=20–37}}</ref>

Friedman's counterpart [[Keynes]] believed people would modify their household consumption expenditures to relate to their existing income levels.<ref>{{Cite web|title=What Is Keynesian Economics? – Back to Basics Compilation Book – IMF Finance & Development magazine|url=https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/basics/4_keynes.htm|access-date=May 10, 2021|website=www.imf.org}}</ref> Friedman's research introduced the term "permanent income" to the world, which was the average of a household's expected income over several years, and he also developed the [[permanent income hypothesis]]. Friedman thought income consisted of several components, namely transitory and permanent. He established the formula <math>y=y_p+y_t</math> to calculate income, with ''p'' representing the permanent component, and ''t'' representing the transitory component.<ref>A Theory of Consumption Function, 1957, Friedman, Milton; Princeton University Press, p. 22</ref> Milton Friedman's research changed how economists interpreted the consumption function, and his work pushed the idea that current income was not the only factor affecting people's adjustment household consumption expenditures.<ref>Carlin, Wendy; Soskice, David W. (2014). ''Macroeconomics: Institutions, instability, and the financial system''. US: Oxford University Press. pp. 20–29.</ref> Instead, expected income levels also affected how households would change their consumption expenditures. Friedman's contributions strongly influenced research on consumer behavior, and he further defined how to predict [[consumption smoothing]], which contradicts Keynes' [[marginal propensity to consume]]. Although this work presented many controversial points of view which differed from existing viewpoints established by Keynes, ''A Theory of the Consumption Function'' helped Friedman gain respect in the field of economics. His work on the [[permanent income hypothesis]] is among the many contributions which were listed as reasons for his [[Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences|Sveriges-Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences]].<ref name="nobel1" /> His work was later expanded on by Christopher D. Carroll, especially in regards to the absence of [[liquidity constraint]]s.<ref>[https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/jep.15.3.23 "A Theory of Consumption Function, With and Without Liquidity Constraints"], Christopher D. Carroll, 2001, ''Journal of Economic Perspectives'', Vol. 15, No. 3, pp. 23–45, {{doi|10.1257/jep.15.3.23}}</ref><ref>Carroll, Christopher D. (1997). "Buffer-Stock Saving and the Life Cycle/Permanent Income Hypothesis". ''Quarterly Journal of Economics''. '''112''' (1): 1–55</ref>

The [[permanent income hypothesis]] faces some criticism, mainly from [[Keynesian economics|Keynesian]] economists. The primary criticism of the hypothesis is based on a lack of [[liquidity constraint]]s.<ref>Beznoska, Martin; Ochmann, Richard (2012). "Liquidity Constraints and the Permanent Income Hypothesis: Pseudo Panel Estimation with German Consumption Survey Data", EconStar.</ref><ref>Stafford, Frank P. (July 1974). "Permanent income, wealth, and consumption: A critique of the permanent income theory, the life cycle hypothesis, and related theories". ''Journal of Econometrics,'' pp. 195–196</ref>

==== ''A Monetary History of the United States'' ====
''[[A Monetary History of the United States]]'' is the second major book written by Milton Friedman, which he co-authored with Anna J. Schwartz in 1963. In this book, Friedman discusses how the changes in the money supply caused the major economic crises. Friedman and Schwartz used historical data and economic analysis to demonstrate that a large change in the money supply affected the U.S economy significantly. They further assert that changes in the money supply can lead to adverse consequences, and good monetary policies are essential for achieving economic stability. In the book, the authors explained the role of the Federal Reserve in the Great Depression. They claimed that the Federal Reserve’s failure to maintain a stable supply of money when most of the other banks failed between 1929–1933 was the main reason the Great Depression occurred. This book changed the way economists think about recession and was influential in the development of monetarism. It also inspired lots of policymakers and guided them to make modern monetary policies.<ref>{{Citation |title=A Monetary History of the United States |date=2025-09-29 |work=Wikipedia |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=A_Monetary_History_of_the_United_States&oldid=1314005703 |access-date=2025-11-23 |language=en}}</ref>

==== ''Capitalism and Freedom'' ====
His book ''[[Capitalism and Freedom]]'', inspired by a series of lectures he gave at [[Wabash College]],<ref>{{Cite web|last=Schnetzer|first=Amanda|date=2016|title=Reading Friedman in 2016: Capitalism, Freedom, and the China Challenge|url=http://www.bushcenter.org/catalyst/freedom/schnetzer-friedman-in-2016.html|access-date=October 29, 2020|website=George W. Bush Institute|language=en}}</ref> brought him national and international attention outside academia.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Sorkin|first=Andrew Ross|date=September 11, 2020|title=A Free Market Manifesto That Changed the World, Reconsidered|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/11/business/dealbook/milton-friedman-doctrine-social-responsibility-of-business.html|access-date=May 10, 2021|issn=0362-4331|url-access=limited}}</ref> It was published in 1962 by the [[University of Chicago Press]] and consists of essays that used non-mathematical economic models to explore issues of public policy.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Ebenstein|first=Lanny|title=Milton Friedman: A Biography|publisher=St. Martin's Publishing Group|year=2007|isbn=978-0230604094|pages=135–146}}</ref> It sold over 400,000 copies in the first eighteen years and more than half a million since 1962.<ref name="Preface-1982">1982 edition preface of ''Capitalism and freedom'', p. xi of the 2002 edition</ref> ''Capitalism and Freedom'' was translated into eighteen languages.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Friedman|first=Milton|url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/isbn/9780226264189/html|title=Capitalism and Freedom|date=February 15, 2009|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0226264189|language=en|access-date=May 23, 2021|archive-date=May 23, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210523003559/https://www.degruyter.com/document/isbn/9780226264189/html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Friedman talks about the need to move to a classically liberal society, that free markets would help nations and individuals in the long-run and fix the efficiency problems currently faced by the United States and other major countries of the 1950s and 1960s. He goes through the chapters specifying an issue in each respective chapter from the role of government and money supply to social welfare programs to a special chapter on occupational licensure. Friedman concludes ''Capitalism and Freedom'' with his [[Classical liberalism|"classical liberal"]] stance that government should stay out of matters that do not need it and should only involve itself when absolutely necessary for the survival of its people and the country. He recounts how the best of a country's abilities come from its free markets while its failures come from government intervention.<ref name="Friedman-1962">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zHSv4OyuY1EC&pg=PA182|title=Capitalism and Freedom: Fortieth Anniversary Edition|publisher=U. of Chicago Press|year=1962|author1=Milton Friedman|author2=Rose D. Friedman}} {{isbn|978-0226264189}}.</ref>

== Post-retirement ==
[[File:Pencil.webm|thumb|left|Friedman giving [[I, Pencil|a lecture about a pencil]] in ''Free to Choose'' (1980)]]
In 1977, at the age of 65, Friedman retired from the [[University of Chicago]] after teaching there for 30 years. He and his wife moved to San Francisco, where he became a visiting scholar at the [[Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco]]. From 1977 on, he was affiliated with the [[Hoover Institution]] at [[Stanford University]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Milton Friedman|url=https://www.hoover.org/profiles/milton-friedman|access-date=May 23, 2021|website=Hoover Institution|language=en}}</ref>

During 1977, Friedman was approached by [[Bob Chitester]] and the [[Free to Choose Network]]. They asked him to create a television program presenting his economic and social philosophy.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Boaz|first=David|date=May 10, 2021|title=Bob Chitester, RIP|url=https://www.cato.org/blog/bob-chitester-rip|access-date=May 20, 2021|website=Cato Institute}}</ref><ref>{{Cite press release|last=Hawkins|first=Marjory|date=May 10, 2021|title=Free To Choose Network Founder & Chairman Bob Chitester Dies|url=https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/05/10/2226535/0/en/Free-To-Choose-Network-Founder-Chairman-Bob-Chitester-Dies.html|access-date=May 20, 2021|website=GlobeNewswire News Room|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=2021|title=Free To Choose Network {{!}} Tribute to Our Founder, Bob Chitester|url=https://freetochoosenetwork.org/tribute/|access-date=May 20, 2021|website=freetochoosenetwork.org|language=en}}</ref>

Friedman and his wife Rose worked on this project for the next three years, and during 1980, the ten-part series, titled ''[[Free to Choose]]'', was broadcast by the [[Public Broadcasting Service]] (PBS). The companion book to the series (co-authored by Milton and his wife, [[Rose Friedman]]), also titled ''Free To Choose'', was the bestselling [[Nonfiction|nonfiction book]] of 1980.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Friedman|first1=Milton|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F5z1B5SwGUEC|title=Free to Choose: A Personal Statement|last2=Friedman|first2=Rose|year=1990|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|isbn=978-0547539751|language=en}}</ref>

Friedman served as an [[Adviser|unofficial adviser]] to [[Ronald Reagan]] during his [[Ronald Reagan 1980 presidential campaign|1980 presidential campaign]], and then served on the [[Economic Policy Advisory Board|President's Economic Policy Advisory Board]] for the rest of the [[Reagan Administration]]. [[Alan O. Ebenstein|Ebenstein]] says Friedman was "the 'guru' of the [[Presidency of Ronald Reagan|Reagan administration]]".<ref name="ReferenceA"/> In 1988, he received the [[National Medal of Science]] and Reagan honored him with the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Bush|first=George W.|date=2002|title=President Honors Milton Friedman for Lifetime Achievements|url=https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/05/20020509-1.html|access-date=May 10, 2021|website=georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov}}</ref>

Friedman is known now as one of the most influential economists of the 20th century.<ref>{{cite news|title=Milton Friedman: An enduring legacy|url=https://www.economist.com/daily/news/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8190872|newspaper=The Economist|date=November 17, 2006|access-date=February 20, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080217001346/http://www.economist.com/daily/news/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8190872|archive-date=February 17, 2008|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Patricia Sullivan|date=November 17, 2006|title=Economist Touted Laissez-Faire Policy|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/16/AR2006111600592.html|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=February 20, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080726012032/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/16/AR2006111600592.html|archive-date=July 26, 2008|url-status=live}}</ref> Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Friedman continued to write [[op-ed|editorials]] and appear on television. He made several visits to Eastern Europe and to China, where he also advised governments. He was also for many years a [[Trustee]] of the [[Philadelphia Society]].<ref>[http://www.cato.org/special/friedman/friedman/index.html Milton Friedman – Biography | Cato Institute] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120502110026/http://www.cato.org/special/friedman/friedman/index.html |date=May 2, 2012 }}. Cato.org (November 16, 2006). Retrieved on September 6, 2017.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://phillysoc.org/trustees.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130827033031/http://phillysoc.org/trustees.htm|url-status=dead|title=Trustees|archive-date=August 27, 2013}}</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20130827031003/http://www.phillysoc.org/fried.htm Milton Friedman]. phillysoc.org</ref>

== Personal life ==
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Friedman had two children, [[David D. Friedman|David]] and [[Jan Martel (bridge)|Jan]].<ref name="Wile-2012" /> He met his wife, [[Rose Friedman]] (née Director), at the [[University of Chicago]] in 1932, and wed six years later, in 1938.<ref name="UChi News-2021" /><ref>{{Cite news|last=Weber|first=Bruce|date=August 19, 2009|title=Rose Friedman, Economist and Collaborator, Dies at 98|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/business/19friedman.html|access-date=September 5, 2024|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

Friedman was noticeably shorter than some of his colleagues; he measured {{Convert|1.52|meters|ftin|order=flip}}, and has been described as an "Elfin Libertarian" by [[Binyamin Appelbaum]].<ref>{{Cite news|title=Milton Friedman, An 'Elfin Libertarian' Giant|url=https://www.hoover.org/research/milton-friedman-elfin-libertarian-giant|access-date=May 18, 2021|website=Hoover Institution|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=November 23, 2006|title=A heavyweight champ, at five foot two|newspaper=The Economist|url=https://www.economist.com/special-report/2006/11/23/a-heavyweight-champ-at-five-foot-two|access-date=May 18, 2021|issn=0013-0613}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=How the Cold War led the CIA to promote human capital theory – Peter Fleming {{!}} Aeon Essays|url=https://aeon.co/essays/how-the-cold-war-led-the-cia-to-promote-human-capital-theory|access-date=May 18, 2021|website=Aeon|language=en}}</ref>

[[Rose Friedman]], when asked about Friedman's successes, said that "I have never had the desire to compete with Milton professionally (perhaps because I was smart enough to recognize I couldn't). On the other hand, he has always made me feel that his achievement is my achievement."<ref>{{Cite news|last=Chen|first=Vivien Lou|date=August 20, 2009|title=Rose Friedman, economist promoted freedom; at 97|work=Boston.com|url=http://archive.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2009/08/20/rose_friedman_economist_promoted_freedom_at_97/|access-date=May 20, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=November 5, 2013|title=Rose Friedman, Economist Partner of Husband Milton, Dies at 97 |url=http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aCLbgqpnozjg|url-status=live|access-date=May 20, 2021|website=Bloomberg.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105072813/http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aCLbgqpnozjg|archive-date=November 5, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bresnahan|first=Timothy|date=1998–1999|title=Two Lucky People: Memoirs: The Independent Review|url=https://www.independent.org/publications/tir/article.asp?id=336|journal=The Independent Review|volume=3|issue=3|via=Independent Institute}}</ref>

During the 1960s, Friedman built (and subsequently maintained) a cottage in [[Fairlee, Vermont|Fairlee]], Vermont.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Hannan|first=Dan|date=November 11, 2019|title=Milton Friedman's arguments will never age|url=https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/milton-friedmans-arguments-will-never-age|access-date=May 22, 2021|website=Washington Examiner|language=en}}</ref> Friedman also had an apartment in [[Russian Hill, San Francisco|Russian Hill]], San Francisco, where he lived from 1977 until his death.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Abate|first=Tom|date=February 12, 2006|title=PROFILE / Decades don't douse Milton Friedman's fire / Retired economist still champions free-market theory|url=https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/PROFILE-Decades-don-t-douse-Milton-Friedman-s-2504389.php|access-date=May 22, 2021|website=SFGATE|language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Religious views ===
{{external media| float = right| width=230px| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?110074-1/two-lucky-people-memoirs Presentation by Milton and Rose Friedman on ''Two Lucky People: Memoirs'', August 14, 1998], [[C-SPAN]]}}
According to a 2007 article in ''[[Commentary (magazine)|Commentary]]'' magazine, his "parents were moderately observant Jews, but Friedman, after an intense burst of childhood [[piety]], rejected religion altogether".<ref name="Ebenstein-2007">Lanny Ebenstein (May 2007), [https://archive.today/20121217160558/https://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/milton-friedman-by-lanny-ebenstein-10876?page=all Milton Friedman], ''[[Commentary (magazine)|Commentary]]'', p. 286.</ref> He described himself as an agnostic.<ref>{{cite news|author=David Asman|title='Your World' Interview With Economist Milton Friedman|url=https://www.foxnews.com/story/your-world-interview-with-economist-milton-friedman|access-date=August 2, 2011|newspaper=Fox News|date=November 16, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110206063810/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,230045,00.html|archive-date=February 6, 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> Friedman wrote extensively of his life and experiences, especially in 1998 in his memoirs with his wife, [[Rose Friedman|Rose]], titled ''Two Lucky People''. In this book, Rose Friedman describes how she and Milton Friedman raised their two children, Janet and David, with a Christmas tree in the home. "Orthodox Jews of course, do not celebrate Christmas. However, just as, when I was a child, my mother had permitted me to have a Christmas tree one year when my friend had one, she not only tolerated our having a Christmas tree, she even strung popcorn to hang on it."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Friedman |first1=Milton |last2=Friedman |first2=Rose |title=Two Lucky People |date=1999 |publisher=The University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago & London |isbn=0226264157 |page=129 |edition=Paperback}}</ref>

=== Death ===
Friedman died of heart failure at the age of 94 years in San Francisco on November 16, 2006.<ref name="reuters_20061116">{{cite news|author=Jim Christie|date=November 16, 2006|title=Free market economist Milton Friedman dead at 94|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSWBT00621920061116|work=Reuters|access-date=February 20, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080410163503/http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSWBT00621920061116|archive-date=April 10, 2008|url-status=live}}</ref> He was still a working economist performing original economic research; his last column was published in ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' the day after his death.<ref name="Milton Friedman Say?">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.forbes.com/2008/10/16/milton-friedman-meltdown-oped-cx_pr_1017robinson.html |title=What Would Milton Friedman Say? |author=Peter Robinson |magazine=Forbes |date=October 17, 2008 |access-date=December 13, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141027125449/http://www.forbes.com/2008/10/16/milton-friedman-meltdown-oped-cx_pr_1017robinson.html |archive-date=October 27, 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref> He was survived by his wife, [[Rose Friedman]] (who would die on August 18, 2009), and their two children, [[David D. Friedman]], known for ''[[The Machinery of Freedom]],'' as well as his unique [[anarcho-capitalism]] from a [[Chicago school of economics|Chicago School]] perspective, and attorney and [[Contract bridge|bridge]] player [[Jan Martel (bridge)|Jan Martel]].<ref name="Wile-2012">{{Cite web|date=April 8, 2012|title=David D. Friedman on his Famous Father, Anarcho-Capitalism and Free-Market Solutions|url=https://www.thedailybell.com/all-articles/exclusive-interviews/anthony-wile-david-d-friedman-on-his-famous-father-anarcho-capitalism-and-free-market-solutions/|access-date=May 10, 2021|website=The Daily Bell|language=en-US}}</ref>

== Scholarly contributions ==
{{see also|Friedman–Savage utility function|Friedman rule|Friedman's k-percent rule|Friedman test|Great Contraction}}

=== Economics ===
Friedman was best known for reviving interest in the [[money supply]] as a determinant of the nominal value of output, that is, the [[quantity theory of money]].<ref>Hamilton, Earl J. (1965). ''American Treasure and the Price Revolution in Spain, 1501–1650''. New York: Octagon, pp. 301–302</ref> [[Monetarism]] is the set of views associated with modern quantity theory. Its origins can be traced back to the 16th-century [[School of Salamanca#Money, value, and price|School of Salamanca]] or even further; however, Friedman's contribution is largely responsible for its modern popularization. He co-authored, with Anna Schwartz, ''[[A Monetary History of the United States, 1867–1960]]'' (1963), which was an examination of the role of the money supply and [[economy of the United States|economic activity]] in the U.S. history.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Harrod|first=Roy|title=Review of A Monetary History of the United States|url=https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=3424&context=uclrev|journal=Chicago Unbound|volume=32}}</ref>

Friedman was the main proponent of the [[monetarism|monetarist]] school of economics. He maintained that there is a close and stable association between inflation and the money supply, mainly that inflation could be avoided with proper regulation of the [[monetary base]]'s growth rate. He famously used the analogy of "[[Helicopter money|dropping money out of a helicopter]]", to avoid dealing with money injection mechanisms and other factors that would overcomplicate his models.<ref>{{cite book|last=Friedman|first=Milton|url=https://archive.org/details/optimumquantityo0000frie|title=Optimum Quantity of Money|publisher=Aldine Publishing Company|year=1969|isbn=978-0333107799|page=[https://archive.org/details/optimumquantityo0000frie/page/4 4]|url-access=registration}}</ref>

Friedman's arguments were designed to counter the popular concept of [[cost-push inflation]], that the increased [[Price Level|general price level]] at the time was the result of increases in the price of oil, or increases in wages; as he wrote:

{{blockquote|Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon.|Milton Friedman, 1963<ref>Friedman, Milton. ''Inflation: Causes and Consequences'', p. 24, New York: Asia Publishing House.</ref>}}

Friedman rejected the use of [[fiscal policy]] as a tool of [[demand]] management; he also held the belief that the government's role in the guidance of the economy should be restricted severely. Friedman wrote extensively on the [[Great Depression]], and he termed the 1929–1933 period the [[Great Contraction]]. He argued that the Depression had been caused by an ordinary financial [[shock (economics)|shock]] and the duration and seriousness of which were greatly increased by the subsequent contraction of the [[money supply]] caused by the misguided policies of the directors of the Federal Reserve.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Friedman, Schwartz|title=The Great Contraction, 1929–1933|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2008}}</ref><ref name="Bernanke-2002" />

{{blockquote|The Fed was largely responsible for converting what might have been a garden-variety recession, although perhaps a fairly severe one, into a major catastrophe. Instead of using its powers to offset the depression, it presided over a decline in the quantity of money by one-third from 1929 to 1933&nbsp;... Far from the depression being a failure of the free-enterprise system, it was a tragic failure of government.|Milton Friedman|''Two Lucky People''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.themoneymasters.com/the-money-masters/milton-friedman-end-the-fed/ |title=Milton Friedman: End The Fed |publisher=Themoneymasters.com |access-date=April 22, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140615065824/http://www.themoneymasters.com/the-money-masters/milton-friedman-end-the-fed |archive-date=June 15, 2014 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }}</ref>}}

This theory was put forth in ''[[A Monetary History of the United States]]'', and the chapter on the Great Depression was then published as a stand-alone book entitled ''The Great Contraction, 1929–1933''. Both books are still in print from the [[Princeton University Press]], and some editions include as an appendix a speech at a [[University of Chicago]] event honoring Friedman<ref name=FriedmanSchwartz/> in which [[Ben Bernanke]] made this statement:

<blockquote>Let me end my talk by abusing slightly my status as an official representative of the Federal Reserve. I would like to say to Milton and Anna: Regarding the Great Depression, you're right. We did it. We're very sorry. But thanks to you, we won't do it again.<ref name="Bernanke-2002">FRB Speech: [http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/speeches/2002/20021108/default.htm FederalReserve.gov: Remarks by Governor Ben S. Bernanke, At the Conference to Honor Milton Friedman, University of Chicago, Nov. 8, 2002]</ref><ref name=FriedmanSchwartz>{{cite book|author1=Milton Friedman|author2=Anna Jacobson Schwartz|author3=National Bureau of Economic Research|title=The Great Contraction, 1929–1933|chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=-lCArZfazBkC&q=%22Regarding%20the%20Great%20Depression%20You're%20right%20We%20did%20it%22|year=2008|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0691137940 |page=247|chapter=B. Bernanke's speech to M. Friedman}}</ref></blockquote>

Friedman also argued for the removal of government intervention in [[Foreign exchange market|currency markets]], thereby spawning an enormous literature on the subject, as well as promoting the practice of freely [[floating exchange rate]]s. His close friend [[George Stigler]] explained, "As is customary in science, he did not win a full victory, in part because research was directed along different lines by the [[Rational expectations|theory of rational expectations]], a newer approach developed by [[Robert Lucas Jr.|Robert Lucas]], also at the University of Chicago."<ref>{{cite book |title=Memoirs of an Unregulated Economist |author=Milton Friedman |publisher=Aldine Publishing Company |year=1969 |page=4}}</ref> The relationship between Friedman and Lucas, or [[new classical macroeconomics]] as a whole, was highly complex. The Friedmanian [[Phillips curve]] was an interesting starting point for Lucas, but he soon realized that the solution provided by Friedman was not quite satisfactory. Lucas elaborated a new approach in which [[rational expectations]] were presumed instead of the Friedmanian [[adaptive expectations]]. Due to this reformulation, the story in which the theory of the new classical Phillips curve was embedded radically changed. This modification, however, had a significant effect on Friedman's own approach, so, as a result, the theory of the Friedmanian Phillips curve also changed.<ref>{{cite book |author=Peter Galbács |title=The Theory of New Classical Macroeconomics. A Positive Critique |location=Heidelberg/New York/Dordrecht/London |publisher=Springer |year=2015 |isbn= 978-3319175782 |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-17578-2 |series=Contributions to Economics }}</ref> Moreover, [[New classical macroeconomics|new classical]] adherent [[Neil Wallace]], who was a graduate student at the [[University of Chicago]] between 1960 and 1963, regarded Friedman's theoretical courses as a mess, highlighting the strained relationship between [[monetarism]] and [[New classical macroeconomics|new classical]] schools.<ref name="Hoover-Young-2011">{{cite book |author1=Kevin Hoover |author2=Warren Young |title=Rational Expectations – Retrospect and Prospect |location=Durham |publisher=Center for the History of Political Economy at Duke University |year=2011 |url=http://www.dklevine.com/archive/refs4786969000000000227.pdf |access-date=December 15, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304193421/http://www.dklevine.com/archive/refs4786969000000000227.pdf |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |url-status=live  }}</ref>

Friedman was also known for his work on the consumption function, the [[permanent income hypothesis]] (1957), which Friedman himself referred to as his best scientific work.<ref>{{cite episode |title=Charlie Rose Show |airdate=December 26, 2005 |series=Nobel Laureates}}</ref> This work contended that utility-maximizing consumers would spend a proportional amount of what they perceived to be their permanent income. Permanent Income refers to such factors like [[human capital]]. [[Windfall gain]]s would mostly be saved because of the [[law of diminishing marginal utility]].<ref name="Friedman-2018" />

Friedman's essay "[[Essays in Positive Economics#The Methodology of Positive Economics|The Methodology of Positive Economics]]" (1953) provided the [[Epistemology|epistemological]] pattern for his own subsequent research and to a degree that of the Chicago School. There he argued that economics as ''science'' should be free of value judgments for it to be objective. Moreover, a useful economic theory should be judged not by its descriptive realism but by its simplicity and fruitfulness as an engine of prediction. That is, students should measure the accuracy of its predictions, rather than the 'soundness of its assumptions'. His argument was part of an ongoing debate among such statisticians as [[Jerzy Neyman]], [[Leonard Savage]], and [[Ronald Fisher]].<ref>David Teira, "Milton Friedman, the Statistical Methodologist," ''History of Political Economy'' (2007) 39#3 pp. 511–527</ref>

While being an advocate of the free market, Friedman believed that the government had two crucial roles. In an interview with Phil Donahue, Friedman argued that "the two basic functions of a government are to protect the nation against foreign enemy, and to protect citizens against its fellows".<ref name="Friedman-YT-2021">{{Cite web|title=Friedman's on the Military Industrial Complex |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXMJHCXXD-c |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/iXMJHCXXD-c| archive-date=December 11, 2021 |url-status=live|access-date=January 8, 2021|website=www.youtube.com| date=February 14, 2010 }}{{cbignore}}</ref> He also admitted that although privatization of national defense could reduce the overall cost, he has not yet thought of a way to make this privatization possible.<ref name="Friedman-YT-2021" /><!-- This is from a series of Public Lectures Friedman gave - not WP:COPYLINK -->

=== Rejection and subsequent evolution of the Phillips curve ===
[[File:NAIRU-SR-and-LR.svg|thumb|Long-run Phillips curve (NAIRU)]]
Other important contributions include his critique of the [[Phillips curve]] and the concept of the [[natural rate of unemployment]] (1968). This critique associated his name, together with that of [[Edmund Phelps]], with the insight that a government that brings about greater inflation cannot permanently reduce unemployment by doing so. Unemployment may be temporarily lower, if the inflation is a surprise, but in the long run unemployment will be determined by the frictions and imperfections of the labor market. If the conditions are not met and inflation is expected, the "long run" effects will replace the "short term" effects.<ref name="Chang-1997" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=Landsburg|first=Steven|date=November 5, 2019|title=Milton Friedman|url=https://www.essentialscholars.org/friedman|access-date=May 10, 2021|website=Essential Scholars|publisher=[[Fraser Institute]]|language=en}}</ref>

Through his critique, the Phillips curve evolved from a strict model emphasizing the connection between inflation and unemployment as being absolute, to a model which emphasized short term unemployment reductions and long term employment stagnations.<ref name="Chang-1997">Chang, Roberto (1997) "Is Low Unemployment Inflationary?" ''Economic Review,'' [[Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta]]. pp. 4–13.</ref>

Friedman's revised and updated Phillips Curve also changed as a result of [[Robert Lucas Jr.|Robert Lucas's]] idea of [[Rational expectations]], replacing the [[adaptive expectations]] Friedman used.<ref name="Hoover-Young-2011" />

=== Statistics ===
One of his most famous contributions to statistics is [[sequential analysis|sequential sampling]].<ref name="Palgrave-dict">{{Cite web|title=Sequential Analysis|url=http://www.dictionaryofeconomics.com/article?id=pde2008_S000098|website=New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, 2nd edition}}</ref> Friedman did statistical work at the Division of War Research at Columbia, where he and his colleagues came up with the technique.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Friedman, Milton (1912–2006) |author= Keir Armstrong|url=https://carleton.ca/keirarmstrong/learning-resources/selected-biographies/friedman-milton-1912-2006/|access-date=May 21, 2021|website=carleton.ca}}</ref> It became, in the words of ''[[The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics]]'', "the standard analysis of quality control inspection". The dictionary adds, "Like many of Friedman's contributions, in retrospect it seems remarkably simple and obvious to apply basic economic ideas to quality control; that, however, is a measure of his genius."<ref name="Palgrave-dict" /><ref name="ReasonOnFriedman">Doherty, Brian; [http://www.reason.com/news/show/118494.html The Life and Times of Milton Friedman – Remembering the 20th century's most influential libertarian] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070224104917/http://www.reason.com/news/show/118494.html|date=February 24, 2007}}. Reason.com. Retrieved on September 6, 2017.</ref>

=== Corporate social responsibility ===
Friedman criticised [[corporate social responsibility]], most famously in an op-ed in the New York Times Magazine in 1970.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Friedman |first=Milton |date=13 September 1970 |title=The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/09/13/archives/a-friedman-doctrine-the-social-responsibility-of-business-is-to.html |work=New York Times Magazine}}</ref> Friedman argued that businesses often used claims about social responsibility to increase returns and described them as "hypocritical window dressing".<ref name=":0" /> Managers were also poorly prepared to make decisions about social causes and these outlays diverted funds that belonged instead to shareholders. Friedman believed that only monopolistic corporations could routinely make altruistic expenditures on social responsibility, because in a competitive market such costs would undermine the business.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Smith |first=David Chan |date=2024-03-26 |title=The Intellectual History of Milton Friedman's Criticism of Corporate Social Responsibility |journal=Modern Intellectual History |volume=22 |issue=1–2 |language=en |pages=184–210 |doi=10.1017/S1479244324000027 |issn=1479-2443|doi-access=free }}</ref>

== Public policy positions ==
{{Liberalism US|activists and intellectuals}}
=== Federal Reserve and monetary policy ===
{{Capitalism sidebar|expanded=Intellectuals}}
Although Friedman concluded the government does have a role in the monetary system<ref>Friedman, M., & Schwartz, A.J. (1986). Has government any role in money?. ''Journal of Monetary Economics'', ''17''(1), 37–62.</ref> he was critical of the Federal Reserve due to its poor performance and felt it should be abolished.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6fkdagNrjI Milton Friedman – Abolish The Fed] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150611181527/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6fkdagNrjI |date=June 11, 2015 }}. Youtube: "There in no institution in the US that has such a high public standing and such a poor record of performance" "It's done more harm than good"</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6fkdagNrjI Milton Friedman – Abolish The Fed] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150611181527/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6fkdagNrjI |date=June 11, 2015 }}. Youtube: "I have long been in favor of abolishing it."</ref><ref>{{YouTube|CMY0tAHHF_M|"My first preference would be to abolish the Federal Reserve"}}</ref> He was opposed to Federal Reserve policies, even during the so-called "[[Volcker shock]]" that was labeled "[[monetarist]]".<ref>Reichart Alexandre & Abdelkader Slifi (2016). ''The Influence of Monetarism on Federal Reserve Policy during the 1980s.'' Cahiers d'économie Politique/Papers in Political Economy, (1), [https://www.cairn.info/revue-cahiers-d-economie-politique-2016-1-page-107.htm pp. 107–150] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161203124007/https://www.cairn.info/revue-cahiers-d-economie-politique-2016-1-page-107.htm |date=December 3, 2016 }}</ref> Friedman believed the Federal Reserve System should ultimately be replaced with a computer program.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.hoover.org/research/mr-market|title=Mr. Market|date=January 30, 1999|work=Hoover Institution|access-date=September 22, 2018|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180923005629/https://www.hoover.org/research/mr-market|archive-date=September 23, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> He favored a system that would automatically buy and sell [[Security (finance)|securities]] in response to changes in the money supply.<ref>Friedman, M. (1996). The Counter-Revolution in Monetary Theory. In ''Explorations in Economic Liberalism'' (pp. 3–21). Palgrave Macmillan, London. "It is precisely this leeway, this looseness in the relation, this lack of a mechanical one-to-one correspondence between changes in money and in income that is the primary reason why I have long favored for the USA a quasi-automatic monetary policy under which the quantity of money would grow at a steady rate of 4 or 5 per cent per year, month-in, month-out."</ref>

The proposal to constantly grow the money supply at a certain predetermined amount every year has become known as [[Friedman's k-percent rule]].<ref name="Salter, A. W. 2014">Salter, Alexander, William. (2014). An Introduction to Monetary Policy Rules. ''Mercatus Workıng Paper. George Mason University''.</ref> There is debate about the effectiveness of a theoretical money supply targeting regime.<ref>Marimon, R., & Sunder, S. (December 1995). "Does a constant money growth rule help stabilize inflation?: experimental evidence. In ''Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy'' (Vol. 43, pp. 111–156). North-Holland.</ref><ref>Evans, G.W., & Honkapohja, S. (2003). Friedman's money supply rule vs. optimal interest rate policy". ''Scottish Journal of Political Economy'', ''50''(5), 550–566.</ref> The Fed's inability to meet its money supply targets from 1978 to 1982 led some to conclude it is not a feasible alternative to more conventional inflation and interest rate targeting.<ref name="Smith-2016">{{cite web|url=https://noahpinionblog.blogspot.com/2016/07/how-are-milton-friedmans-ideas-holding.html|title=Noahpinion: How are Milton Friedman's ideas holding up?|last=Smith|first=Noah|date=July 30, 2016|website=Noahpinion|access-date=September 22, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180923005528/http://noahpinionblog.blogspot.com/2016/07/how-are-milton-friedmans-ideas-holding.html|archive-date=September 23, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> Towards the end of his life, Friedman expressed doubt about the validity of targeting the quantity of money. To date, most countries have adopted [[inflation targeting]] instead of the [[Friedman's k-percent rule|k-percent rule]].<ref>Simon London, "Lunch with the FT – Milton Friedman," Financial Times (June 7, 2003) "The use of quantity of money as a target has not been a success ... I'm not sure I would as of today push it as hard as I once did."</ref>

Idealistically, Friedman actually favored the principles of the 1930s [[Chicago plan]], which would have ended [[fractional reserve banking]] and, thus, private money creation. It would force banks to have 100% reserves backing deposits, and instead place money creation powers solely in the hands of the US Government. This would make targeting money growth more possible, as [[endogenous money]] created by fractional reserve lending would no longer be a major issue.<ref name="Salter, A. W. 2014"/>

Friedman was a strong advocate for floating exchange rates throughout the entire [[Bretton Woods system|Bretton-Woods]] period (1944–1971). He argued that a flexible exchange rate would make external adjustment possible and allow countries to avoid [[balance of payments]] crises. He saw fixed exchange rates as an undesirable form of government intervention. The case was articulated in an influential 1953 paper, "The Case for Flexible Exchange Rates", at a time when most commentators regarded the possibility of floating exchange rates as an unrealistic policy proposal.<ref>{{cite book|author=Ruger|first=William|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=infHAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT72|title=Milton Friedman|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing US|year=2013|isbn=978-1623566173|pages=72–}}</ref><ref>Atish R. Ghosh, Mahvash S. Qureshi, and Charalambos G. Tsangarides (2014) [http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2014/wp14146.pdf Friedman Redux: External Adjustment and Exchange Rate Flexibility] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150413034103/http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2014/wp14146.pdf|date=April 13, 2015}}. [[International Monetary Fund|International Monetary Fund; IMF Working Paper]]</ref>

=== Foreign policy ===
[[File:Nixon Contact Sheet WHPO-6503 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Friedman with [[Richard Nixon]] and [[George Shultz]] in 1971]]
While [[Walter Oi]] is credited with establishing the economic basis for a [[volunteer military]], Friedman was a proponent, and was credited with ending the draft,<ref name="bestofbothworlds" /> stating that the [[Conscription|draft]] was "inconsistent with a free society".<ref name=":1">{{Cite AV media | people = Milton Friedman | title = The War on Drugs | publisher = America's Drug Forum | year = 1991 | url = http://yes390.org/friedmanvideos.html | access-date = August 4, 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091029053319/http://yes390.org/friedmanvideos.html | archive-date = October 29, 2009 | url-status = live | df = mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author= Bernard Rostker |title= I Want You!: The Evolution of the All-Volunteer Force |publisher= Rand Corporation |year= 2006 |isbn= 978-0833038951 |page= 4 }}</ref>

In ''[[Capitalism and Freedom]]'', he argued conscription is inequitable and arbitrary, preventing young men from shaping their lives as they see fit.<ref name="draft">{{cite book|author=Friedman|first=Milton|title=Capitalism and Freedom|publisher=University Of Chicago Press|year=1962|page=36}} {{isbn|0226264211}}.</ref> During the [[Presidency of Richard Nixon|Nixon administration]] he headed the committee to research a conversion to paid/volunteer armed force. Friedman did, however, believe the introduction of a system of universal military training as a reserve in cases of war-time could be justified.<ref name="draft" /> He still opposed its implementation in the United States, describing it as a "monstrosity".<ref>{{cite web|last=Friedman|first=Milton|date=1982|title="National Service, the Draft and Volunteers" A debate featuring Milton Friedman In Registration and the Draft: Proceedings of the Hoover-Rochester Conference on the All-Volunteer Force|url=https://miltonfriedman.hoover.org/friedman_images/Collections/2016c21/Stanford_01_01_1982.pdf|url-status=dead|website=Hoover Institution|access-date=October 24, 2019|archive-date=October 21, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201021122441/https://miltonfriedman.hoover.org/friedman_images/Collections/2016c21/Stanford_01_01_1982.pdf}}</ref>

Biographer [[Alan O. Ebenstein|Lanny Ebenstein]] noted a drift over time in Friedman's views from an interventionist to a more cautious foreign policy.<ref name="Ebenstein 2007 231–32">{{Cite book|last=Ebenstein|first=Lanny|title=Milton Friedman: A Biography|publisher=St. Martin's Publishing Group|year=2007|isbn=978-0230604094|pages=231–232}}</ref> He supported US involvement in the Second World War and initially supported a hard-line against Communism, but moderated over time.<ref name="Ebenstein 2007 231–32"/> However, Friedman did state in a 1995 interview that he was an anti-interventionist.<ref>Matt Barganier; [https://www.antiwar.com/blog/2006/11/16/milton-friedman-rip/ Milton Friedman, RIP – Antiwar.com Blog] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160922155018/http://www.antiwar.com/blog/2006/11/16/milton-friedman-rip/|date=September 22, 2016}}. Antiwar.com (November 16, 2006). Retrieved on September 6, 2017.</ref> He opposed the [[Gulf War]] and the [[Iraq War]]. In a spring 2006 interview, Friedman said the US's stature in the world had been eroded by the Iraq War, but that it might be improved if [[Iraq]] were to become a [[Peace|peaceful and independent country]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Ebenstein|first=Lanny|title=Milton Friedman: A Biography|publisher=St. Martin's Publishing Group|year=2007|isbn=978-0230604094|page=243}}</ref><ref name="Ebenstein 2007 231–32"/>

=== Libertarianism and the Republican Party ===
{{Libertarianism US |expanded=intellectuals}}
[[File:President Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan in The East Room Congratulating Milton Friedman Receiving The Presidential Medal of Freedom.jpg|left|thumb|alt=Ronald Reagan shaking hands with Milton Friedman giving him the Presidential Medal of Freedom|Friedman receiving the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] from [[Ronald Reagan]] in 1988]]
Friedman was an economic advisor and speech writer in [[Barry Goldwater]]'s failed presidential campaign in 1964. He was an advisor to California governor Ronald Reagan and was active in Reagan's presidential campaigns.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Robert|last1=Van Horn|first2=Philip|last2=Mirowski|first3=Thomas A.|last3=Stapleford|title=Building Chicago Economics: New Perspectives on the History of America's Most Powerful Economics Program|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VDf0hyh11GIC&pg=PA49|year=2011|publisher=Cambridge UP|pages=49–50|isbn=978-1139501712}}</ref> He served as a member of President Reagan's [[Economic Policy Advisory Board]] starting in 1981. In 1988, he received the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] and the [[National Medal of Science]].<ref>{{Cite web|last1=Terrell|first1=Ellen|last2=Wilson|first2=Angela|date=2009|title=Milton Friedman: A Resource Guide|url=https://guides.loc.gov/milton-friedman|website=Library of Congress}}</ref>

In a 1995 interview with ''Reason'' magazine, Friedman criticized [[Murray Rothbard]] and [[Ayn Rand]] as "cult builders" and "dogmatists", citing this as justification for not joining the U.S. [[Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian Party]]. Friedman stated that he was a member of the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]], "not because they have any principles, but because that's the way I am the most useful and have most influence." He described his philosophy as "clearly libertarian", though distanced himself from "zero-government" libertarianism, which he called "infeasible", citing the lack of historical examples of that philosophy succeeding.<ref name="Reason1995June" /> Friedman attended [[The Future of Freedom Conference]], which was a meeting for libertarians, in 1990.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://libertyunbound.com/node/166|title=Milton Friedman, "Say 'No' to Intolerance," ''Liberty'' magazine, vol. 4, no. 6, July 1991, pp. 17–20.|access-date=2015-01-20|archive-date=2015-02-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150216011511/http://libertyunbound.com/node/166|url-status=dead}}</ref>

His citation for the Presidential Medal of Freedom reads: "He has used a brilliant mind to advance a moral vision: the vision of a society where men and women are free, free to choose, but where government is not as free to override their decisions. That vision has changed America, and it is changing the world. All of us owe a tremendous debt to this man's towering intellect and his devotion to liberty."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Presidential Medal of Freedom| url=https://www.uchicago.edu/about/accolades/23/|access-date=May 20, 2021|website=The University of Chicago|language=en}}</ref>

=== Governmental involvement in the economy ===
In a 1962 essay that builds on arguments made by [[A. V. Dicey]], Friedman argued that a "free society" would constitute a desirable but unstable equilibrium, due to an asymmetry between the visible benefits and the hidden harms of government intervention; he uses [[tariff]]s as an example of a policy that brings noticeable financial benefits to a visible group, but causes worse harms to a diffuse group of workers and consumers.<ref name="Reason1995June" /><ref name="FriedmanOnLiberty">{{cite book |last1=Friedman |first1=Milton |title=Milton Friedman on Freedom: Selections from The Collected Works of Milton Friedman |year=2017 |publisher=Hoover Institution Press |isbn=978-0817920340 |pages=chapter 4 |url=https://www.hoover.org/research/free-society-stable |access-date=March 29, 2023}}</ref>

Friedman was supportive of the state provision of some [[Public good (economics)|public good]]s that private businesses are not considered as being able to provide. However, he argued that many of the services performed by government could be performed better by the private sector. Above all, if some public goods are provided by the state, he believed that they should not be a [[legal monopoly]] where private competition is prohibited; for example, he wrote:

{{blockquote|There is no way to justify our present public monopoly of the post office. It may be argued that the carrying of mail is a [[technical monopoly]] and that a government monopoly is the least of evils. Along these lines, one could perhaps justify a government post office, but not the present law, which makes it illegal for anybody else to carry the mail. If the delivery of mail is a technical monopoly, no one else will be able to succeed in competition with the government. If it is not, there is no reason why the government should be engaged in it. The only way to find out is to leave other people free to enter.|Milton Friedman||source=<ref>Friedman, Milton & Rose D. ''[[Capitalism and Freedom]]'', University of Chicago Press, 1982, p. 29</ref>}} In 1962, Friedman criticized [[Social Security (United States)|Social Security]] in his book ''[[Capitalism and Freedom]]'', arguing that it had created [[welfare dependency]]. However, in the penultimate chapter of the same book, Friedman argued that while [[Capitalism#Economic growth|capitalism had greatly reduced the extent of poverty in absolute terms]], "poverty is in part a [[Poverty threshold|relative matter]], [and] even in [wealthy Western] countries, there are clearly many people living under conditions that the rest of us label as poverty." Friedman also noted that while private charity could be one recourse for alleviating poverty and cited late 19th century Britain and the United States as exemplary periods of extensive private charity and eleemosynary activity, he made the following point:<ref>{{cite book|first=Milton|last=Friedman|title=Capitalism and Freedom|publisher=University of Chicago Press|place=Chicago|edition=40th anniversary|year=2002|pages=182–189|orig-date=1962|isbn=978-0226264219|title-link=Capitalism and Freedom}}</ref>

{{blockquote|It can be argued that private charity is insufficient because the benefits from it accrue to people other than those who make the gifts – ... a [[Externality|neighborhood effect]]. I am distressed by the sight of poverty; I am benefited by its alleviation; but I am benefited equally whether I or someone else pays for its alleviation; the benefits of other people's charity therefore partly accrue to me. To put it differently, [[Free-rider problem|we might all of us be willing to contribute to the relief of poverty, ''provided'' everyone else did. We might not be willing to contribute the same amount without such assurance.]] In small communities, public pressure can suffice to realize the proviso even with private charity. In the large impersonal communities that are increasingly coming to dominate our society, it is much more difficult for it to do so.

Suppose one accepts, as I do, this line of reasoning as justifying [[Social safety net|governmental action to alleviate poverty]]; to set, as it were, [[Universal basic income|a floor under the standard of life of every person in the community]]. [While there are questions of how much should be spent and how, the] arrangement that recommends itself on purely mechanical grounds is a [[negative income tax]]. ... The advantages of this arrangement are clear. It is directed specifically at the problem of poverty. It gives help in the form most useful to the individual, namely, cash. It is general and could be substituted for the host of special measures now in effect. It makes explicit the cost borne by society. It operates outside the market. Like any other measures to alleviate poverty, it reduces the incentives of those helped to help themselves, but it does not eliminate that incentive entirely, as a system of supplementing incomes up to some fixed minimum would. An extra dollar earned always means more money available for expenditure.}}

Friedman argued further that other advantages of the negative income tax were that it could fit directly into the tax system, would be less costly, and would reduce the administrative burden of implementing a [[social safety net]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Milton|last=Friedman|title=Capitalism and Freedom|publisher=University of Chicago Press|place=Chicago|edition=40th anniversary|year=2002|pages=190–195|orig-date=1962|isbn=978-0226264219|title-link=Capitalism and Freedom}}</ref> Friedman reiterated these arguments 18 years later in ''[[Free to Choose]]'', with the additional proviso that such a reform would only be satisfactory if it replaced the current system of welfare programs rather than augment it.<ref name="Friedman-1990">{{cite book|first1=Milton |last1=Friedman |first2=Rose |last2=Friedman |author2-link=Rose Friedman |title=Free to Choose: A Personal Statement |publisher=Harcourt |place=New York |edition=1st Harvest|year=1990|pages=119–124|orig-date=1980|isbn=978-0156334600|title-link=Free to Choose}}</ref> According to economist [[Robert H. Frank]], writing in ''[[The New York Times]]'', Friedman's views in this regard were grounded in a belief that while "market forces&nbsp;... accomplish wonderful things", they "cannot ensure a distribution of income that enables all citizens to meet basic economic needs".<ref>{{cite news|last=Frank|first=Robert H.|author-link=Robert H. Frank|title=The Other Milton Friedman: A Conservative With a Social Welfare Program|work=The New York Times|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/2006/11/23/business/23scene.html|date=November 23, 2006|access-date=September 5, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111001200816/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/23/business/23scene.html|archive-date=October 1, 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> Friedman also criticized [[Urban renewal#United States|urban renewal programs in the United States]] due to their [[Housing discrimination in the United States|racially discriminatory]] and [[Gentrification in the United States|economically regressive]] effects.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Milton |last1=Friedman |first2=Rose |last2=Friedman |author2-link=Rose Friedman |title=Free to Choose: A Personal Statement |publisher=Harcourt |place=New York |edition=1st Harvest|year=1990|pages=111–112|orig-date=1980|isbn=978-0156334600|title-link=Free to Choose}}</ref>

In 1979, Friedman expressed support for [[environmental tax]]es in general in an interview on ''[[The Phil Donahue Show]]'', saying "the best way to [deal with pollution] is to impose a tax on the cost of the pollutants emitted by a car and make an incentive for car manufacturers and for consumers to keep down the amount of pollution."<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=McMahon|first1=Jeff|title=What Would Milton Friedman Do About Climate Change? Tax Carbon|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2014/10/12/what-would-milton-friedman-do-about-climate-change-tax-carbon/|magazine=[[Forbes]]|date=October 12, 2014|access-date=March 20, 2016}}</ref> In ''Free to Choose'', Friedman reiterated his support for environmental taxes as compared with increased [[Environmental law|environmental regulation]], stating "The preservation of the environment and the avoidance of undue pollution are real problems and they are problems concerning which the government has an important role to play. ... Most economists agree that a far better way to control pollution than the present method of specific regulation and supervision is to introduce market discipline by imposing effluent charges."<ref>{{cite book|first1=Milton |last1=Friedman|author-link1=Milton Friedman|first2=Rose |last2=Friedman |author2-link=Rose Friedman |title=Free to Choose: A Personal Statement |publisher=Harcourt |place=New York |edition=1st Harvest|year=1990|pages=213–218|orig-date=1980|isbn=978-0156334600|title-link=Free to Choose}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Kearl|first1=J. R.|last2=Pope|first2=Clayne L.|last3=Whiting|first3=Gordon C.|last4=Wimmer|first4=Larry T.|year=1979|title=A Confusion of Economists?|journal=American Economic Review|publisher=American Economic Association|volume=69|issue=2|pages=28–37|jstor=1801612}}</ref>

In his 1955 article "The Role of Government in Education",<ref>{{cite book | author = Milton Friedman | editor = Robert A. Solo | title = "The Role of Government in Education," as printed in the book Economics and the Public Interest | publisher = Rutgers University Press | year = 1955 | pages = 123–144 | url = http://la.utexas.edu/users/hcleaver/330T/350kPEEFriedmanRoleOfGovttable.pdf | access-date = February 12, 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170510103949/http://la.utexas.edu/users/hcleaver/330T/350kPEEFriedmanRoleOfGovttable.pdf | archive-date = May 10, 2017 | url-status = live | df = mdy-all }}</ref> Friedman proposed supplementing publicly operated schools with privately run but publicly funded schools through a system of [[school voucher]]s.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Ross|first1=Leonard|last2=Zeckhauser|first2=Richard|date=December 1970|title=Review: Education Vouchers|journal=The Yale Law Journal|publisher=The Yale Law Journal Company, Inc.|volume=80|issue=2|pages=451–461|doi=10.2307/795126|jstor=795126}}</ref> Reforms similar to those proposed in the article were implemented in, for example, Chile in 1981 and Sweden in 1992.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Carnoy|first=Martin|date=August 1998|title=National Voucher Plans in Chile and Sweden: Did Privatization Reforms Make for Better Education?|url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/447510|journal=Comparative Education Review|publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]]|volume=42|issue=3|pages=309–337|doi=10.1086/447510|jstor=1189163|s2cid=145007866|url-access=subscription}}</ref> In 1996, Friedman, together with his wife, founded the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice to advocate [[school choice]] and vouchers. In 2016, the Friedman Foundation changed its name to [[EdChoice]] to honor the Friedmans' desire to have the educational choice movement live on without their names attached to it after their deaths.<ref name=sullivan/>

[[Michael Walker (economist)|Michael Walker]] of the [[Fraser Institute]] and Friedman hosted a series of conferences from 1986 to 1994. The goal was to create a clear definition of [[economic freedom]] and a method for measuring it. Eventually this resulted in the first report on worldwide economic freedom, ''Economic Freedom in the World''. This annual report has since provided data for numerous peer-reviewed studies and has influenced policy in several nations.<ref>{{cite web|title=Economic Freedom of the World project|url=http://www.freetheworld.com/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305144202/http://www.freetheworld.com/|archive-date=March 5, 2016|access-date=February 16, 2016|website=Fraser Institute}}</ref>

With sixteen other distinguished economists he opposed the [[Copyright Term Extension Act]], and signed on to an [[amicus brief]] filed in ''[[Eldred v. Ashcroft]]''.<ref>{{cite web|title=In the Supreme Court of the United States|url=http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/openlaw/eldredvashcroft/supct/amici/economists.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402164457/http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/openlaw/eldredvashcroft/supct/amici/economists.pdf|archive-date=April 2, 2015|access-date=February 20, 2008|publisher=Harvard Law School}}</ref> Friedman jokingly described it as a "[[wikt:no-brainer|no-brainer]]".<ref>{{cite web|author=Lawrence Lessig|date=November 19, 2006|title=only if the word 'no-brainer' appears in it somewhere: RIP Milton Friedman (Lessig Blog)|url=http://www.lessig.org/2006/11/only-if-the-word-nobrainer-app/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402150417/http://www.lessig.org/2006/11/only-if-the-word-nobrainer-app/|archive-date=April 2, 2015|access-date=April 2, 2013|publisher=Lessig.org}}</ref>

Friedman argued for stronger basic legal (constitutional) protection of economic rights and freedoms to further promote industrial-commercial growth and prosperity and buttress democracy and freedom and the rule of law generally in society.<ref>{{cite web|title=A New British Bill of Rights: The Case For|url=http://industry.sharepoint.com/Pages/NewBritishBillofRights.aspx|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304030437/http://industry.sharepoint.com/Pages/NewBritishBillofRights.aspx|archive-date=March 4, 2016|access-date=February 16, 2016|publisher=ISR Online Guide}}</ref>

Friedman suggested medical savings accounts, repealing tax exemptions of employer-provided medical care and income-based deductibles as ways to lower health care costs in America. Friedman also argued that federal involvement in health care should be restricted, with state and local governments financing health care for the poor.<ref>Friedman, 2001</ref>

Friedman believed the government should not operate [[national park]]s.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Cudd |first1=Ann E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GLK8BAAAQBAJ&dq=milton+friedman+national+parks&pg=PA66 |title=Philosophical Perspectives on Democracy in the 21st Century |last2=Scholz |first2=Sally J. |year=2013 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-3319023120 |language=en}}</ref> He argued that [[Yellowstone National Park]] should be sold for private development.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Goble |first1=Dale |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hp1DAQAAIAAJ&q=milton+friedman+national+parks+yellowstone |title=Wildlife Law: Cases and Materials |last2=Freyfogle |first2=Eric T. |date=2002 |publisher=Foundation Press |isbn=978-1587781681 |language=en}}</ref>

=== Social issues ===
Friedman also supported [[libertarian]] policies such as legalization of [[Recreational drug use|drugs]] and [[prostitution]]. During 2005, Friedman and more than 500 other economists advocated discussions regarding the economic benefits of the [[Legalization of non-medical cannabis in the United States|legalization of marijuana]].<ref>{{cite web|title=An open letter|url=http://www.prohibitioncosts.org/endorsers/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121031062704/http://www.prohibitioncosts.org/endorsers/|archive-date=October 31, 2012|access-date=November 9, 2012|website=prohibitioncosts.org|publisher=Prohibition Costs}}</ref> He compared prohibition of recreational drugs to the historical [[Prohibition in the United States|prohibition of alcohol in the United States]], and to a hypothetical ban on [[overeating]] food.<ref name=":1" /> Friedman stated that drug prohibition was not primarily an economic issue, but that "if you look at the drug war from a purely economic point of view, the role of the government is to protect the drug cartel."<ref name=":1" />

Friedman was also a supporter of [[gay rights]].<ref>{{cite web|date=2009|title=Milton Friedman|url=http://www.ldp.org.au/milton-friedman|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130410053149/http://ldp.org.au/milton-friedman|archive-date=April 10, 2013|access-date=February 19, 2013|website=ldp.org|publisher=Liberal Democratic Party (Australia)}}</ref> He never specifically supported [[same-sex marriage]], instead saying "I do not believe there should be any discrimination against gays."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Ebenstein|first=Lanny|title=Milton Friedman: A Biography|publisher=St. Martin's Publishing Group|year=2007|isbn=978-0230604094|page=228}}</ref>

Friedman favored immigration, saying "legal and illegal immigration has a very positive impact on the U.S. economy".<ref name="Dalmia-2018">{{Cite news|last=Dalmia|first=Shikha|date=July 19, 2018|title=The weaponization of Milton Friedman|work=[[The Week]]|url=https://theweek.com/articles/785238/weaponization-milton-friedman|url-status=live|access-date=July 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180719161851/http://theweek.com/articles/785238/weaponization-milton-friedman|archive-date=July 19, 2018}}</ref> However, he suggested that immigrants ought not to have access to the welfare system.<ref name="Dalmia-2018" /> Friedman stated that immigration from Mexico had been a "good thing", in particular illegal immigration.<ref name="Dalmia-2018" /> Friedman argued that illegal immigration was a boon because they "take jobs that most residents of this country are unwilling to take, they provide employers with workers of a kind they cannot get" and they do not use welfare.<ref name="Dalmia-2018" /> In ''[[Free to Choose]]'', Friedman wrote:<ref name="Friedman-1990"/>

<blockquote>No arbitrary obstacles should prevent people from achieving those positions for which their talents fit them and which their values lead them to seek. Not birth, nationality, color, religion, sex, nor any other irrelevant characteristic should determine the opportunities that are open to a person – only his abilities.</blockquote>Friedman also famously argued that the welfare state must end before immigration, or more specifically, before open borders, because immigrants might have an incentive to come directly because of welfare payments.<ref>{{Cite web|last1=Friedman|first1=Milton|last2=Kowalczyk|first2=Henryk|date=2006|title=A Letter to Mr. Friedman|url=https://www.freedomofmigration.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Friedman-20061016.pdf|website=freedomofmigration.com}}</ref> Economist [[Bryan Caplan]] has disputed this assertion, arguing that welfare is generally distributed not among immigrants, but instead retirees, through [[Social Security (United States)|Social Security]].<ref>{{Cite news|last=Mangu-Ward|first=Katherine|date=2019|title=Bryan Caplan says Milton Friedman is wrong about Open Borders|work=[[Reason Magazine]]|publisher=Reason Foundation|url=https://reason.com/video/2019/11/27/bryan-caplan-says-milton-friedman-is-wrong-about-open-borders/}}</ref>

Friedman was against public housing as he believed it was also a form of welfare. He believed that one of the main arguments politicians have for public housing is that regular low-income housing was too expensive due to the imposed higher cost of a fire and police department.<ref name="Preface-1982" /> He believed that it would only increase taxes and not benefit low-income people in the long run. Friedman was an advocate for direct cash instead of public housing believing that the people would be better off that way. He argued that [[Liberalism in the United States|liberals]] would never agree with this idea due to them not trusting their own citizens.<ref name="Freedman-C&F">{{Cite book|last=Fredman|first=Milton|title=Capitalism and Freedom|pages=179–181}}</ref> He also stated that regression has already happened with more land being left vacant due to slow construction. Friedman argued that public housing instead encourages [[juvenile delinquency]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Peterson|first=Jonathan|date=December 14, 1986|title=The Captain of Capitalism : Even as Milton Friedman's Theories Have Gone Out of Vogue in Washington, His Ideas Have Come to Shape the Way Nations Manage Their Money.|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-12-14-tm-2801-story.html|access-date=January 11, 2022|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The Negro in America|url=https://miltonfriedman.hoover.org/objects/56671/the-negro-in-america|access-date=January 11, 2022|website=miltonfriedman.hoover.org|language=en}}</ref>

Friedman was also against minimum wage laws; he saw them as a clear case as one can find that the precise opposite is happening when this was attempted. Minimum wage laws would increase unemployment in his eyes and that employers would not hire back workers that were already there for less pay.<ref name="Freedman-C&F" /> In his view, this would leave low-income people worse off because the voters for minimum wage laws would then become the victims of unemployment. He believed that these ideas of new minimum wage laws came from Northern factories and Unions, in an attempt to reduce competition from the South.<ref>{{Cite news|date=December 5, 2016|title=Milton Friedman in a 1966 Newsweek op-ed: the minimum-wage law is a 'monument to the power of superficial thinking'|url=https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/milton-friedman-in-a-1966-newsweek-op-ed-the-minimum-wage-law-is-a-monument-to-the-power-of-superficial-thinking/|access-date=January 11, 2022|website=American Enterprise Institute – AEI|language=en-US |last1=Perry |first1=Mark }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Minimum-Wage Rates|url=https://miltonfriedman.hoover.org/objects/57909/minimumwage-rates|access-date=January 11, 2022|website=miltonfriedman.hoover.org|language=en}}</ref>

== Honors, recognition and legacy ==
[[File:Milton Friedman 1976.jpg|thumb|Friedman in 1976|left]]
[[George H. Nash]], a leading historian of American conservatism, says that by "the end of the 1960s he was probably the most highly regarded and influential conservative scholar in the country, and one of the few with an international reputation".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Ebenstein|first=Lanny|title=Milton Friedman: A Biography|publisher=St. Martin's Publishing Group|year=2007|isbn=978-0230604094|page=260}}</ref> In 1971, Friedman received the Golden Plate Award of the [[Academy of Achievement|American Academy of Achievement]].<ref>{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees |publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]]|url= https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#public-service}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title= Milton Friedman Biography and Interview |publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]]|url =https://achievement.org/achiever/milton-friedman-ph-d/#interview}}</ref> Friedman allowed the libertarian [[Milton Friedman Prize|Cato Institute]] to use his name for its biennial [[Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty]] beginning in 2001. A Friedman Prize was given to the late British economist [[Peter Thomas Bauer|Peter Bauer]] in 2002, Peruvian economist [[Hernando de Soto (economist)|Hernando de Soto]] in 2004, [[Mart Laar]], former Estonian Prime Minister in 2006 and a young Venezuelan student [[Yon Goicoechea]] in 2008. His wife Rose, sister of [[Aaron Director]], with whom he initiated the [[EdChoice|Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice]], served on the international selection committee.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cato.org/news-releases/2007/9/5/selection-committee-announced-2008-milton-friedman-prize-advancing-liberty |title=Selection Committee Announced for the 2008 Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140105025255/http://www.cato.org/news-releases/2007/9/5/selection-committee-announced-2008-milton-friedman-prize-advancing-liberty |archive-date=January 5, 2014|publisher=Cato Institute|date=September 5, 2007|access-date=January 4, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cato.org/friedman-prize |title=Milton Friedman Prize page|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140120081700/http://www.cato.org/friedman-prize |archive-date=January 20, 2014|publisher= [[Cato Institute]] |access-date=January 5, 2014}}</ref>

Upon Friedman's death, Harvard President [[Lawrence Summers]] called him "The Great Liberator", saying "any honest Democrat will admit that we are now all Friedmanites." He said Friedman's great popular contribution was "in convincing people of the importance of allowing free markets to operate".<ref>{{cite news|author=Larry Summers|title=The Great Liberator|work=The New York Times|date=November 19, 2006|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/2006/11/19/opinion/19summers.html|access-date=September 5, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061123000415/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/19/opinion/19summers.html|archive-date=November 23, 2006|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Stephen Moore (writer)|Stephen Moore]], a member of the editorial board of ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'', said in 2013: "Quoting the most-revered champion of free-market economics since [[Adam Smith]] has become a little like quoting the Bible." He adds, "There are sometimes multiple and conflicting interpretations."<ref>{{cite news|first=Stephen |last=Moore|title=What Would Milton Friedman Say?|work=The Wall Street Journal|date= May 30, 2013|page=A13}}</ref>

Although [[Post-Keynesian economics|post-Keynesian]] economist [[John Kenneth Galbraith|J. K. Galbraith]] was a prominent critic of Friedman and his ideology, he observed that "The age of [[John Maynard Keynes]] gave way to the age of Milton Friedman."<ref name="Ebenstein-2007" />

=== 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences ===
Friedman was awarded the [[Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences]], the sole recipient for 1976, "for his achievements in the fields of consumption analysis, monetary history and theory and for his demonstration of the complexity of stabilization policy".<ref name="nobel1" /> His appointment was controversial, mainly for his association with military dictator [[Augusto Pinochet]]. Some economists, such as [[Institutional economics|Institutional economist]] and 1974 Nobel Prize winner [[Gunnar Myrdal]], criticized Friedman, and Myrdal's own 1974 [[Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences|Nobel Prize]] partner [[Friedrich Hayek]], for being reactionaries. Myrdal's criticism caused some economists to oppose the [[Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences|Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economics Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel]] itself.<ref name="Silk-1977">{{Cite news|last=Silk|first=Leonard|date=March 31, 1977|title=Nobel Award in Economics: Should Prize Be Abolished?|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/03/31/archives/nobel-award-in-economics-should-prize-be-abolished.html|access-date=May 16, 2021|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Dopfer|first=Kurt|date=1988|title=In Memoriam: Gunnar Myrdal's Contribution to Institutional Economics|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4225966|journal=Journal of Economic Issues|volume=22|issue=1|pages=227–231|doi=10.1080/00213624.1988.11504742|jstor=4225966|issn=0021-3624|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

=== Hong Kong ===
Friedman said, "If you want to see [[capitalism]] in action, go to Hong Kong."<ref>{{cite magazine |author=Waldemar Ingdahl |date=March 22, 2007 |title=Real Virtuality |url=http://www.american.com/archive/2007/march-0307/real-virtuality/ |magazine=The American |access-date=February 20, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141003020845/http://www.american.com/archive/2007/march-0307/real-virtuality |archive-date=October 3, 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He wrote in 1990 that the [[economy of Hong Kong|Hong Kong economy]] was perhaps the best example of a [[Market economy|free market economy]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Milton Friedman and Rose Friedman |title=Free to Choose: A Personal Statement |page=34 |publisher=Harvest Books |year=1990 |isbn=978-0156334600}}</ref>

One month before his death, he wrote "Hong Kong Wrong – What would [[John James Cowperthwaite|Cowperthwaite]] say?" in ''The Wall Street Journal'', criticizing [[Donald Tsang]], Chief Executive of Hong Kong, for abandoning "positive non interventionism".<ref name=wsj_20061006>{{cite web|author=Friedman, Milton|date=October 6, 2006|title=Dr. Milton Friedman|url=http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110009051|publisher=Opinion Journal|access-date=February 20, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061006122046/http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110009051|archive-date=October 6, 2006|url-status=live}}</ref> Tsang later said he was merely changing the slogan to "big market, small government", where small government is defined as less than 20% of GDP. In a debate between Tsang and his rival [[Alan Leong]] before the [[2007 Hong Kong Chief Executive election]], Leong introduced the topic and jokingly accused Tsang of angering Friedman to death (Friedman had died only a year prior).<ref>{{cite web
 |title='Genuine' Tsang turns aggressive
 |first=Carrie
 |last=Chan
 |date=March 16, 2007
|url=http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=12&art_id=40288&sid=12691962&con_type=1&d_str=20070316&sear_year=2007
 |url-status=dead
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080311050617/http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=12&art_id=40288&sid=12691962&con_type=1&d_str=20070316&sear_year=2007
 |archive-date=March 11, 2008
}}</ref>

=== Chile ===
{{further|Miracle of Chile|Chicago Boys}}
During 1975, two years after the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|military coup]] that brought [[Military dictatorship|military dictator]] [[Augusto Pinochet]] to power and ended the [[Presidency of Salvador Allende|government of Salvador Allende]], the economy of Chile experienced a severe crisis.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Richards|first=Donald|date=1997|title=The Political Economy of the Chilean Miracle|journal=Latin American Research Review|volume=32|issue=1|pages=139–159|doi=10.1017/S0023879100037705 |jstor=2504050|s2cid=252743251 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Friedman and [[Arnold Harberger]] accepted an invitation of a private Chilean foundation to visit Chile and speak on principles of [[economic freedom]].<ref>Letter from Arnold Harberger to Stig Ramel as reprinted in ''The Wall Street Journal'', October 12, 1976, and in ''Two Lucky People: Memoirs By Milton Friedman'', Rose D. Friedman. Appendix A, pp. 598–599. Accessible at books.google.com</ref> He spent seven days in Chile giving a series of lectures at the [[Pontifical Catholic University of Chile]] and the [[University of Chile]]. One of the lectures was entitled "The Fragility of Freedom" and according to Friedman, "dealt with precisely the threat to freedom from a centralized military government."<ref name=icelandtv>{{cite AV media|people=Milton Friedman|date=August 31, 1984|title=Iceland Television Debate|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJNxg3ZhXf8#t=9m11s&feature=PlayList&p=EBBF6DB20C85145A&playnext_from=PL&index=3|format=[[Flash Video]]|medium=Television production|publisher=[[Television in Iceland|Icelandic State Television]]|location=[[Reykjavík]]|access-date=June 27, 2010|time=009:48:00|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160423164050/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJNxg3ZhXf8#t=9m11s&feature=PlayList&p=EBBF6DB20C85145A&playnext_from=PL&index=3|archive-date=April 23, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

In a letter to Pinochet of April 21, 1975, Friedman considered the "key economic problems of Chile are clearly&nbsp;... inflation and the promotion of a healthy [[social market economy]]".<ref name="letter">[Two Lucky People: Memoirs By Milton Friedman, Rose D. Friedman. Appendix A, pp. 591–593. Letter from Friedman to Pinochet, April 21, 1975.]</ref> He stated that "There is only one way to end inflation: by drastically reducing the rate of increase of the quantity of money" and that "cutting government spending is by far and away the most desirable way to reduce the fiscal deficit, because it&nbsp;... strengthens the private sector thereby laying the foundations for ''healthy'' economic growth".<ref name=letter/> As to how rapidly inflation should be ended, Friedman felt that "for Chile where inflation is raging at 10–20% a month&nbsp;... gradualism is not feasible. It would involve so painful an operation over so long a period that the ''patient'' would not survive." Choosing "a brief period of higher unemployment" was the lesser evil.. and that "the experience of Germany,&nbsp;... of Brazil&nbsp;..., of the post-war adjustment in the U.S.&nbsp;... all argue for shock treatment". In the letter Friedman recommended to deliver the shock approach with "a package to eliminate the surprise and to relieve acute distress" and "for definiteness let me sketch the contents of a package proposal&nbsp;... to be taken as illustrative" although his knowledge of Chile was "too limited to enable [him] to be precise or comprehensive". He listed a "sample proposal" of 8 [[Monetary policy|monetary]] and [[Fiscal policy|fiscal]] measures including "the removal of as many as obstacles as possible that now hinder the private market. For example, suspend&nbsp;... the present law against discharging employees". He closed, stating "Such a shock program could end inflation in months". His letter suggested that cutting spending to reduce the fiscal deficit would result in less transitional unemployment than raising taxes.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Edwards|first1=Sebastian|last2=Montes|first2=Leonidas|title=Milton Friedman in Chile: Shock Therapy, Economic Freedom, and Exchange Rates|date=2020|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-history-of-economic-thought/article/abs/milton-friedman-in-chile-shock-therapy-economic-freedom-and-exchange-rates/D58D1A94977A748FA9A9F154EB002E37|journal=Journal of the History of Economic Thought|volume=42|pages=105–132|doi=10.1017/S1053837219000397|s2cid=214507780|via=Cambridge University Press|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Economist's View: The Rivals (Samuelson and Friedman)|url=https://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2015/07/the-rivals-samuelson-and-friedman.html|access-date=May 21, 2021|website=economistsview.typepad.com}}</ref><ref name="Opazo-2016">{{Cite web|last=Opazo|first=Tania|date=January 12, 2016|title=The "Boys" Who Completely Transformed Chile's Economy|url=https://slate.com/business/2016/01/in-chicago-boys-the-story-of-chilean-economists-who-studied-in-america-and-then-remade-their-country.html|access-date=May 21, 2021|website=Slate Magazine|language=en}}</ref>

[[Sergio de Castro (economist)|Sergio de Castro]], a Chilean Chicago School graduate, became the nation's Minister of Finance in 1975.<ref name="Opazo-2016" /> During his six-year tenure, foreign investment increased, restrictions were placed on striking and labor unions, and GDP rose yearly.<ref>{{cite thesis |author=William Ray Mask II|title=The Great Chilean Recovery: Assigning Responsibility For The Chilean Miracle(s)|date=May 2013|publisher=California State University, Fresno|hdl=10211.3/105425}}</ref> A foreign exchange program was created between the [[Catholic University of Chile]] and the [[University of Chicago]]. Many other Chicago School alumni were appointed government posts during and after Pinochet's dictatorship; others taught its economic doctrine at Chilean universities. They became known as the [[Chicago Boys]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Chile and the "Chicago Boys"|url=http://hoohila.stanford.edu/friedman/chile-chicago.php|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120810043651/http://hoohila.stanford.edu/friedman/chile-chicago.php|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 10, 2012|website=The Hoover Institution|publisher=Stanford University|access-date=June 20, 2014}}</ref>

Friedman defended his activity in Chile on the grounds that, in his opinion, the adoption of free market policies not only improved the economic situation of Chile but also contributed to the amelioration of [[Military dictatorship of Chile (1973–90)|Pinochet's rule]] and to the eventual [[Chilean transition to democracy|transition to a democratic government]] during 1990. That idea is included in ''[[Capitalism and Freedom]]'', in which he declared that economic freedom is not only desirable in itself but is also a necessary condition for [[political freedom]]. In his 1980 documentary ''[[Free to Choose]]'', he said the following: "Chile is not a politically free system, and I do not condone the system. But the people there are freer than the people in Communist societies because government plays a smaller role. ...&nbsp;The conditions of the people in the past few years has been getting better and not worse. They would be still better to get rid of the junta and to be able to have a free democratic system."<ref>{{cite web |title=Free to Choose Vol. 5 |url=http://www.freetochoose.net/1980_vol5_transcript.html |access-date=February 20, 2008|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080209233014/http://www.freetochoose.net/1980_vol5_transcript.html |archive-date = February 9, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQkdSj6arn0 Frances Fox Piven vs. Milton Friedman, Thomas Sowell] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141016091409/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQkdSj6arn0 |date=October 16, 2014 }}, debate, 1980, YouTube.</ref> In 1984, Friedman stated that he has "never refrained from criticizing the political system in Chile".<ref name=icelandtv/> In 1991, he said: "I have nothing good to say about the political regime that Pinochet imposed. It was a terrible political regime. The real miracle of Chile is not how well it has done economically; the real miracle of Chile is that a military junta was willing to go against its principles and support a free market regime designed by principled believers in a free market. ... In Chile, the drive for political freedom, that was generated by economic freedom and the resulting economic success, ultimately resulted in a referendum that introduced political democracy. Now, at long last, Chile has all three things: political freedom, human freedom and economic freedom. Chile will continue to be an interesting experiment to watch to see whether it can keep all three or whether, now that it has political freedom, that political freedom will tend to be used to destroy or reduce economic freedom."<ref>[http://www.cbe.csueastbay.edu/~sbesc/frlect.html The Smith Center: Milton Friedman's lecture] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130922130830/http://www.cbe.csueastbay.edu/~sbesc/frlect.html |date=September 22, 2013 }}, "Economic Freedom, Human Freedom, Political Freedom", by Milton Friedman, delivered November 1, 1991.</ref> He stressed that the lectures he gave in Chile were the same lectures he later gave in China and other socialist states.<ref>{{harvnb|Friedman|1999}}, pp. 600–601</ref> He further stated "I do not consider it as evil for an economist to render technical economic advice to the Chilean Government, any more than I would regard it as evil for a physician to give technical medical advice to the Chilean Government to help end a medical plague."<ref>Newsweek of June 14, 1976</ref>

During the 2000 PBS documentary ''The Commanding Heights'' (based on [[The Commanding Heights|the book]]), Friedman continued to argue that "free markets would undermine [Pinochet's] political centralization and political control",<ref>{{cite web |title=Interview with Jeffery Sachs on the "Miracle of Chile" |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/shared/minitextlo/ufd_reformliberty_full.html |publisher=PBS |access-date=February 20, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080222001124/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/shared/minitextlo/ufd_reformliberty_full.html |archive-date=February 22, 2008 |url-status=live  }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Commanding Heights: Milton Friedman |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/shared/minitext/int_miltonfriedman.html#10 |publisher=PBS |access-date=December 29, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081228195520/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/shared/minitext/int_miltonfriedman.html#10 |archive-date=December 28, 2008 |url-status=live  }}</ref> and that criticism over his role in Chile missed his main contention that freer markets resulted in freer people, and that [[Economic history of Chile|Chile's unfree economy]] had caused Pinochet's rise. Friedman advocated for free markets which undermined "political centralization and political control".<ref name=pbs1>{{cite web |title=Milton Friedman interview |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/shared/minitextlo/int_miltonfriedman.html |publisher=PBS |access-date=February 20, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110109040713/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/shared/minitextlo/int_miltonfriedman.html |archive-date=January 9, 2011 |url-status=live  }}</ref>

Because of his involvement with the government of Chile, which was a dictatorship at the time of his visit, there were international protests, spanning from Sweden to America when Friedman was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in 1976. Friedman was accused of supporting the military dictatorship in Chile because of the relation of economists of the University of Chicago to Pinochet, and a seven-day trip<ref>{{cite web |last1=Doherty |first1=Brian |title=The Economist and the Dictator |url=https://reason.com/2006/12/15/the-economist-and-the-dictator/ |website=Reason.com |date=December 15, 2006 |publisher=Reason Magazine |access-date=October 8, 2021}}</ref> he took to Chile during March 1975 (less than two years after the coup that ended with the death of President Salvador Allende). Friedman answered that he was never an advisor to the dictatorship, but only gave some lectures and seminars on inflation, and met with officials, including Augusto Pinochet the head of the military dictatorship, while in Chile.

After a 1991 speech on drug legalization, Friedman answered a question on his involvement with the Pinochet regime. Friedman said that he was never an advisor to Pinochet (also mentioned in his 1984 Iceland interview), but that a group University of Chicago students were involved in Chile's economic reforms. Friedman credited these reforms with high levels of economic growth and with the establishment of democracy that has subsequently occurred in Chile. In October 1988, after returning from a lecture tour of China during which he had met with [[Zhao Ziyang]], [[General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party]], Friedman wrote to The Stanford Daily asking if he should anticipate a similar "avalanche of protests for having been willing to give advice to so evil a government? And if not, why not?"

=== Iceland ===

Friedman visited [[Iceland]] during the autumn of 1984, met with important Icelanders and gave a lecture at the University of Iceland on the "tyranny of the ''status quo''". He participated in a lively television debate on August 31, 1984, with socialist intellectuals, including [[Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson]], who later became [[President of Iceland]].<ref>{{Cite AV media|title=Milton Friedman on Icelandic State Television in 1984|people=Friedman, Milton; Grímsson, Ólafur Ragnar}}</ref> When they complained that a fee was charged for attending his lecture at the university and that, hitherto, lectures by visiting scholars had been free-of-charge, Friedman replied that previous lectures had not been free-of-charge in a meaningful sense: lectures always have related costs. What mattered was whether attendees or non-attendees covered those costs. Friedman thought that it was fairer that only those who attended paid. In this discussion Friedman also stated that he did not receive any money for delivering that lecture.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Gratulatoria |first1=Tabula |last2=Árnason |first2=Ragnar |title=The Libertarian Alliance {{!}} RNH |url=http://www.rnh.is/?page_id=350 |access-date=May 16, 2021 |website=rnh.is }}</ref>

=== Estonia ===
Although Friedman never visited [[Estonia]], his book ''[[Free to Choose]]'' influenced Estonia's then 32-year-old prime minister, [[Mart Laar]], who has claimed that it was the only book on economics he had read before taking office. Laar's reforms are often credited with responsibility for transforming Estonia from an impoverished [[Republics of the Soviet Union|Soviet republic]] to the "[[Baltic Tiger]]". A prime element of Laar's program was introduction of the [[flat tax]].<ref>{{Cite news|last=Stolberg|first=Sharyl|date=2006|title=In Estonia, Bush Finds a Tax Actually to His Liking|work=The New York Times|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/2006/11/30/world/europe/30nato.html|access-date=September 5, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151104184953/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/30/world/europe/30nato.html|archive-date=November 4, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> Laar won the [[Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty|2006 Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty]], awarded by the [[Cato Institute]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cato.org/special/friedman/laar/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060515231340/http://www.cato.org/special/friedman/laar/|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 15, 2006|title=Mart Laar|publisher=Cato Institute|access-date=February 20, 2008}}</ref>

=== United Kingdom ===
After 1950, Friedman was frequently invited to lecture in Britain; by the 1970s, his ideas had gained widespread attention in conservative circles. For example, he was a regular speaker at the [[Institute of Economic Affairs]] (IEA), a libertarian think tank. [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] politician [[Margaret Thatcher]] closely followed IEA programs and ideas and met Friedman there in 1978. He also strongly influenced [[Keith Joseph]], who became Thatcher's senior advisor on economic affairs, as well as Alan Walters and Patrick Minford, two other key advisers. Major newspapers, including the ''Daily Telegraph,'' ''The Times,'' and ''The Financial Times'' all promulgated Friedman's monetarist ideas to British decision-makers. Friedman's ideas strongly influenced Thatcher and her allies when she became Prime Minister in 1979.<ref>{{cite book|author=Lyons|first=John F.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QzOwAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA102|title=America in the British Imagination: 1945 to the Present|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=2013|isbn=978-1137376800|page=102}}</ref><ref>Subroto Roy & John Clarke, eds. (2005), ''Margaret Thatcher's Revolution: How it Happened and What it Meant''. Continuum. {{ISBN|0826484840}}</ref> Galbraith strongly criticised the "workability of the Friedmanite formula" for which, he said, "Britain has volunteered to be the guinea pig".<ref>{{Cite news |title=A Fair Trial of the Friedman Formula |author=Galbraith, J K |authorlink=John Kenneth Galbraith|newspaper=The Washington Post |date=October 8, 1980 |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1980/10/08/a-fair-trial-of-the-friedman-formula/cb55ba55-7942-4d96-8a94-52637d72b4ab/}}</ref>

=== United States ===
After his death a number of obituaries and articles were written in Friedman's honor, citing him as one of the most important and influential economists of the [[Post-World War II|post-war]] era.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/news/2006/11/17/an-enduring-legacy|title=An enduring legacy|date=November 17, 2006|newspaper=The Economist|access-date=September 25, 2018|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180926052241/https://www.economist.com/news/2006/11/17/an-enduring-legacy|archive-date=September 26, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Noble|first=Holcomb B.|title=Milton Friedman, Free Markets Theorist, Dies at 94|language=en|work=The New York Times|date=November 16, 2006 |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/2006/11/16/business/17friedmancnd.html|url-status=live|access-date=September 5, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120810040215/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/16/business/17friedmancnd.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all|archive-date=August 10, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/16/AR2006111601366.html|title=Economist Milton Friedman Dies at 94|last=Norton|first=Justin M.|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=November 17, 2006|access-date=September 25, 2018|language=en-US|issn=0190-8286|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151127171049/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/16/AR2006111601366.html|archive-date=November 27, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2006/11/we_are_live_at_.html|title=We Are Live at Salon, with an Obituary for Milton Friedman|website=Grasping Reality with at Least Three Hands|access-date=September 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180926052017/http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2006/11/we_are_live_at_.html|archive-date=September 26, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> Milton Friedman's somewhat controversial legacy<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2006/nov/16/post650|title=Milton Friedman: a study in failure|last=Adams|first=Richard|date=November 16, 2006|website=The Guardian|language=en|access-date=September 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180926130701/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2006/nov/16/post650|archive-date=September 26, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Goldstein|first=Evan|date=August 1, 2008|title=Milton Friedman's Controversial Legacy|work=The Chronicle of Higher Education|url=https://www.chronicle.com/article/Milton-Friedmans/28879|url-status=live|access-date=September 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180926051906/https://www.chronicle.com/article/Milton-Friedmans/28879|archive-date=September 26, 2018}}</ref> in America remains strong within the [[Conservatism in the United States|conservative]] movement.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Wapshott|first=Nicholas|date=2012|title=Milton Friedman's legacy: He is the economist conservatives love but don't understand|language=en|work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|url=http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/Op-Ed/2012/07/31/Milton-Friedman-s-legacy-He-is-the-economist-conservatives-love-but-don-t-understand/stories/201207310228|url-status=live|access-date=September 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180926052124/http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/Op-Ed/2012/07/31/Milton-Friedman-s-legacy-He-is-the-economist-conservatives-love-but-don-t-understand/stories/201207310228|archive-date=September 26, 2018}}</ref> However, some journalists and economists like Noah Smith and [[Scott Sumner]] have argued Friedman's academic legacy has been buried under his political philosophy and misinterpreted by modern conservatives.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/07/31/milton-friedman|title=Milton Friedman's Unfinished Legacy|last=Kristula-Green|first=Noah|date=July 31, 2012|work=The Daily Beast|access-date=September 25, 2018|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://noahpinionblog.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-cruel-trick-played-by-history-on.html|title=Noahpinion: The cruel trick played by history on Milton Friedman|last=Smith|first=Noah|date=August 14, 2013|website=Noahpinion|access-date=September 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180926051930/http://noahpinionblog.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-cruel-trick-played-by-history-on.html|archive-date=September 26, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.themoneyillusion.com/milton-friedman-vs-the-conservatives/|title=TheMoneyIllusion » Milton Friedman vs. the conservatives|website=www.themoneyillusion.com|language=en|access-date=September 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180926085951/http://www.themoneyillusion.com/milton-friedman-vs-the-conservatives/|archive-date=September 26, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/03/what-gop-economists-dont-understand-about-milton-friedman/254405/|title=What GOP Economists Don't Understand About Milton Friedman|last=O'Brien|first=Matthew|date=March 13, 2012|work=The Atlantic|access-date=September 25, 2018|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180926085825/https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/03/what-gop-economists-dont-understand-about-milton-friedman/254405/|archive-date=September 26, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Criticism of published works ===
{{See also|Friedman doctrine#Criticism}}
Friedman's exogenous money supply theory has been deeply criticized by British [[Post-Keynesian economics|Post-Keynesian]] economist [[Nicholas Kaldor]] in the 1970s. While Friedman and monetarist economists claimed that the money supply was exogenously created by a powerful central bank, Kaldor claimed that the money was created by [[Bank|second-tier banks]] through the distribution of credits to [[household]]s and [[Company|companies]]. In the Post-Keynesian framework, central banks simply refinance second-tier banks on demand but are not in the core of monetary creation. Milton Friedman and Nicholas Kaldor were involved in a fierce debate in 1969–70, in which the monetarist economist had the upper hand.<ref>Reichart Alexandre [2022], '[https://armgpublishing.com/journals/sec/volume-6-issue-4/article-7/ A Reappraisal of the Friedman-Kaldor Debate in the Light of the Great Recession]', ''SocioEconomic Challenges'' 6(4), pp. 60–79</ref> In 1982, Kaldor published a book entitled ''The Scourge of Monetarism'', deeply criticizing monetarist-inspired policies.

Econometrician [[David Forbes Hendry|David Hendry]] criticized part of Friedman's and Anna Schwartz's 1982 ''Monetary Trends''.<ref>David F. Hendry; Neil R. Ericsson (October 1983). "Assertion without Empirical Basis: An Econometric Appraisal of 'Monetary Trends in&nbsp;... the United Kingdom' by Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz," in ''Monetary Trends in the United Kingdom'', Bank of England Panel of Academic Consultants, Panel Paper No. 22, pp.&nbsp;45–101.<br />See also [http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/ifdp/1985/270/ifdp270.pdf Federal Reserve International Finance Discussion Paper No. 270] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103040319/http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/ifdp/1985/270/ifdp270.pdf |date=November 3, 2013 }} (December 1985), which is a revised and shortened version of Hendry–Ericsson 1983.</ref> When asked about it during an interview with Icelandic TV in 1984,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=EBBF6DB20C85145A|title=M.Friedman – Iceland TV (1984)|website=YouTube|access-date=February 16, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313091204/https://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=EBBF6DB20C85145A|archive-date=March 13, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> Friedman said that the criticism referred to a different problem from that which he and Schwartz had tackled, and hence was irrelevant,<ref>{{cite web |author=van Steven Moore, CMA |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwBUO45cIyU&list=PLC0EEBC0F24B2EE0E |title=Milton Friedman – Iceland 2 of 8 |publisher=YouTube |date=August 31, 1984 |access-date=April 22, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140512174832/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwBUO45cIyU&list=PLC0EEBC0F24B2EE0E |archive-date=May 12, 2014 |url-status=live  }}</ref> and pointed out the lack of consequential peer review amongst econometricians on Hendry's work.<ref>{{cite book|author=J. Daniel Hammond|year=2005|title=Theory and Measurement: Causality Issues in Milton Friedman's Monetary Economics|publisher=Cambridge U.P.|pages= 193–199|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m1n9R4Kr03sC&pg=PA193|isbn=978-0521022644}}</ref> In 2006, Hendry said that Friedman was guilty of "serious errors" of misunderstanding that meant "the t-ratios he reported for UK money demand were overstated by nearly 100 per cent", and said that, in a paper published in 1991 with Neil Ericsson,<ref>{{cite web|first1=David F. |last1=Hendry  |first2=Neil R. |last2=Ericsson |date=July 1989 |title=An Econometric Analysis of UK Money Demand in ''Monetary Trends in the United States and the United Kingdom'' by Milton Friedman and Anna J. Schwartz |url=http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/ifdp/1989/355/ifdp355.pdf|publisher=Federal Reserve |series=International Finance Discussion Papers: 355 |access-date=August 2, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103040149/http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/ifdp/1989/355/ifdp355.pdf|archive-date=November 3, 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref> he had refuted "almost every empirical claim ... made about UK money demand" by Friedman and Schwartz.<ref name="Hendry letter">{{cite news |first1=David F. |last1=Hendry  |author-link=David Forbes Hendry |date=April 25, 2013 |title=Friedman's t-ratios were overstated by nearly 100% |newspaper=[[Financial Times]] |url=https://www.ft.com/content/fcfb6334-ac11-11e2-a063-00144feabdc0 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=May 1, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131030075628/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/fcfb6334-ac11-11e2-a063-00144feabdc0.html |archive-date=October 30, 2013 }}</ref> A 2004 paper updated and confirmed the validity of the Hendry–Ericsson findings through 2000.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Escribano, Alvaro|year=2004|title=Nonlinear error correction: The case of money demand in the United Kingdom (1878–2000)|url=http://www.eco.uc3m.es/temp/alvaroe/MDUK-MD04.pdf|journal=[[Macroeconomic Dynamics]]|volume=8|number=1|pages=76–116|doi=10.1017/S1365100503030013|access-date=August 1, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103172546/http://www.eco.uc3m.es/temp/alvaroe/MDUK-MD04.pdf|archive-date=November 3, 2013|url-status=live|hdl=10016/2573|s2cid=154353317|hdl-access=free}}<br />Escribano's approach had already been recognized by Friedman, Schwartz, Hendry ''et al''. (p.&nbsp;14 of ''the pdf'') as yielding significant improvements over previous money demand equations.</ref> Some commentators believe that Friedman was not open enough, in their view, to the possibility of market inefficiencies.<ref>Colander, D. (1995). [[doi:10.1080/13501789500000005|Is Milton Friedman an artist or a scientist?]]. ''Journal of Economic Methodology'', ''2''(1), 105–122.</ref> Economist Noah Smith argues that while Friedman made many important contributions to economic theory not all of his ideas relating to macroeconomics have entirely held up over the years and that too few people are willing to challenge them.<ref name="Smith-2016" /><ref>{{cite web|last=Smith|first=Noah|date=January 12, 2017|title=Milton Friedman's Cherished Theory Is Laid to Rest|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-01-12/milton-friedman-s-cherished-theory-is-laid-to-rest|url-access=subscription|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180926085853/https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-01-12/milton-friedman-s-cherished-theory-is-laid-to-rest|archive-date=September 26, 2018|access-date=September 25, 2018|website=www.bloomberg.com}}</ref>

Political scientist [[C. B. Macpherson]] disagreed with Friedman's historical assessment of economic freedom leading to political freedom, suggesting that political freedom actually gave way to economic freedom for property-owning elites. He also challenged the notion that markets efficiently allocated resources and rejected [[Negative liberty|Friedman's definition of liberty]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Macpherson|first=Crawford|date=1968|title=Elegant Tombstones: A Note on Friedman's Freedom|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3231697|journal=Canadian Journal of Political Science / Revue canadienne de science politique|publisher=Canadian Political Science Association|volume=1|issue=1|pages=95–106|doi=10.1017/S0008423900035241|jstor=3231697|s2cid=154470384|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Friedman's [[Essays in Positive Economics|positivist methodological]] approach to economics has also been critiqued and debated.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Caldwell|first=Bruce J.|date=1980|title=A Critique of Friedman's Methodological Instrumentalism|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1057529|journal=Southern Economic Journal|volume=47|issue=2|pages=366–374|doi=10.2307/1057529|jstor=1057529|issn=0038-4038|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hill|first=Lewis E.|date=1968|title=A Critique of Positive Economics|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3485086|journal=The American Journal of Economics and Sociology|volume=27|issue=3|pages=259–266|doi=10.1111/j.1536-7150.1968.tb01047.x|jstor=3485086|issn=0002-9246|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>Ng, Yew-Kwang. (2016). Are unrealistic Assumptions/Simplifications Acceptable? Some Methodological Issues in Economics. ''Pacific Economic Review'', ''21''(2), 180–201.</ref> Finnish economist [[Uskali Mäki]] argued some of his assumptions were unrealistic and vague.<ref>Mäki, Uskali (2009). ''3 – Unrealistic assumptions and unnecessary confusions: rereading and rewriting F53 as a realist statement''. Cambridge University Press. pp.&nbsp;90–116. {{doi|10.1017/CBO9780511581427.005}}</ref><ref>Maki, U., & Mäki, U. (Eds.). (2009). ''The methodology of positive economics: reflections on the Milton Friedman legacy''. Cambridge University Press.</ref>

Friedman has been criticized by some prominent [[Austrian School|Austrian economists]], including [[Murray Rothbard]] and [[Walter Block]]. Block called Friedman a [[Socialism|"socialist"]] and was critical of his support for a [[Central bank|central banking system]], saying "First and foremost, this economist supported the [[Federal Reserve|Federal Reserve System]] all throughout his professional life. That organization of course does not own the [[Money supply|money stock]], but controls it. Friedman was an inveterate hater of the [[gold standard]], denigrating its advocates as 'gold bugs'."<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Block|first=Walter|title=Was Milton Friedman a Socialist? Yes|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273074293|journal=MEST Journal|year=2013|volume=1(1):11–26|pages=13–14|doi=10.12709/mest.01.01.01.02.pdf|via=ResearchGate|doi-access=free}}</ref> Rothbard criticized Friedman's conclusion that the [[Great Depression]] happened as a result of a [[deflation]]ary spiral, arguing that this is inconsistent with the data, even though during the period described by Friedman as "The Great Contraction", the [[money supply]] did in fact decrease year-over-year by over 10 percentage points.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2008-07-24 |title=Historical Inflation Rates: 1914-2024 |url=https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/historical-inflation-rates/ |access-date=2024-02-07 |website=www.usinflationcalculator.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

Although the book was described by the [[Cato Institute]] as among the greatest economics books in the 20th century, and ''A Monetary History of the United States'' is widely considered to be among the most influential economics books ever made,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bordo|first=Michael|title=Money, History, and International Finance: Essays in Honor of Anna J. Schwartz|publisher=University of Chicago Press|year=1989|isbn=0226065936|page=15|chapter=The Contributions of "A Monetary History of the United States, 1867–1960" to Monetary History}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=November 21, 2003|title=A Monetary History of the United States, 1867–1960|url=https://www.cato.org/events/monetary-history-united-states-1867-1960|access-date=May 16, 2021|website=Cato Institute|language=en}}</ref> it has endured criticisms for its conclusion that the [[Federal Reserve]] was to blame for the [[Great Depression]]. Some economists, including noted Friedman critic [[Peter Temin]], have raised questions about the legitimacy of Friedman's claims about whether or not [[Money supply|monetary quantity levels]] were [[Endogenous money|endogenous]] rather than [[Exogeny|exogenously]] determined, as ''A Monetary History of the United States'' posits.<ref>Temin, Peter. "Review: Money, Money Everywhere: A Retrospective Review. Reviewed work(s): ''A Monetary History of the United States, 1867–1960.'' By Milton Friedman; Anna Jacobson Schwartz." ''Reviews in American History,'' Vol. 5, No. 2 (Jun. 1977), pp. 151–159.</ref> Nobel-prize winning economist [[Paul Krugman]] argued that the [[Great Recession|2008 recession]] proved that, during a recession, a [[central bank]] cannot control [[broad money]] ([[M3 monetary aggregate|M3 money]], as defined by the [[OECD]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=Monetary aggregates – Broad money (M3)|url=http://data.oecd.org/money/broad-money-m3.htm|access-date=May 16, 2021|website=theOECD|language=en}}</ref>), and even if it can, the [[money supply]] does not bear a direct or proven relationship with GDP. According to Krugman, this was true in the 1930s, and the claim that the Federal Reserve could have avoided the Great Depression by reacting to what Friedman called ''[[Great Contraction|The Great Contraction]]'' is "highly dubious".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Krugman |first=Paul |date=2012 |title=Milton's Paradise Lost |url=https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/01/miltons-paradise-lost/ |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=August 8, 2013 |title=Milton Friedman, Unperson |url=https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/08/milton-friedman-unperson/ |access-date=May 16, 2021 |website=New York Times }}</ref>

[[James Tobin]] questioned the importance of [[velocity of money]], and how informative this measure of the frequency of transactions is to the understanding of the various fluctuations observed in ''A Monetary History of the United States''.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Tobin|first=James|date=1965|title=The Monetary Interpretation of History|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1814559|journal=American Economic Review|volume=55|issue=3|pages=464–485|jstor=1814559}}</ref>

[[Economic history|Economic historian]] [[Barry Eichengreen]] argued that because of the [[gold standard]], which was at this point in time the chief monetary system of the world, the [[Federal Reserve]]'s hands were tied. This was because, to retain the credibility of the gold standard, the Federal Reserve could not undertake actions like dramatically expanding the money supply as proposed by Friedman and Schwartz.<ref name="Eichengreen-1992">{{Cite book|last=Eichengreen|first=Barry|url=https://archive.org/details/goldenfettersgol00eich/page/n5/mode/2up|title=Golden Fetters|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1992|isbn=978-0195064315|pages=187–222}}</ref>

[[Lawrence Mishel]], distinguished fellow of the [[Economic Policy Institute]], argues that wages have been kept low in the United States because of the [[Friedman doctrine]], namely the adoption of corporate practices and [[Economic policy|economic policies]] (or the blocking of reforms) at the behest of business and the [[Elite|wealthy elite]], which resulted in the systematic [[Empowerment|disempowerment]] of workers.<ref name="IMF-2022">{{Cite web|title=Rebuilding Worker Power – IMF F&D|url=https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2020/12/rebuilding-worker-power-mishel.htm|access-date=January 11, 2022|website=www.imf.org}}</ref> He argues that the lack of worker power caused wage suppression, increased [[Economic inequality|wage inequality]], and exacerbated racial disparities. Notably, mechanisms such as excessive unemployment, [[globalization]], eroded [[International labour law|labor standards]] (and their lack of enforcement), weakened [[collective bargaining]], and corporate structure changes that disadvantage workers, all collectively functioned to keep wages low.<ref name="IMF-2022"/> From 1980 to 2020, while economy-wide productivity rose almost 70 percent, hourly compensation for typical workers increased less than 12 percent, while the earnings of the top 1 percent and 0.1 percent increased 158 percent and 341 percent, respectively.<ref name="IMF-2022"/>

== Selected bibliography ==
{{main|Milton Friedman bibliography}}

===Books===
* ''A Theory of the Consumption Function'' (1957) {{ISBN|1614278121}}.
* ''[[A Program for Monetary Stability]]'' (Fordham University Press, 1960) 110 pp. online version {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111101070712/http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=22831717 |date=November 1, 2011 }} {{ISBN|0823203719}}
* ''[[Capitalism and Freedom]]'' (1962), highly influential series of essays that established Friedman's position on major issues of public policy (excerpts)
* ''[[A Monetary History of the United States, 1867–1960]]'', with Anna J. Schwartz, 1963; part 3 reprinted as ''The [[Great Contraction]]''
* "The Role of Monetary Policy", ''American Economic Review,'' Vol. 58, No. 1 (Mar. 1968), pp.&nbsp;1–17 JSTOR presidential address to American Economics Association
* "Inflation and Unemployment: Nobel Lecture", 1977, ''[[Journal of Political Economy]]''. Vol. 85, pp.&nbsp;451–472. {{JSTOR|1830192}}
* ''[[Free to Choose|Free to Choose: A Personal Statement]]'', with Rose Friedman, (1980), highly influential restatement of policy views
* ''The Essence of Friedman'', essays edited by Kurt R. Leube, (1987) ({{ISBN|0817986626}})
* ''Two Lucky People: Memoirs'' (with Rose Friedman) {{ISBN|0226264149}} (1998) [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0226264149 excerpt and text search]
* ''Milton Friedman on Economics: Selected Papers by Milton Friedman'', edited by Gary S. Becker (2008)

===Articles===
* {{cite journal | first = Milton | last = Friedman | title = The Demand for Money: Some Theoretical and Empirical Results | journal = [[Journal of Political Economy]] | volume = 67 | issue = 4 | year = 1959 | pages = 327–51 | doi = 10.1086/258194 }}
* {{cite journal | first = Milton | last = Friedman | author-mask = 1 | title = The Role of Monetary Policy | journal = [[American Economic Review]] | volume = 58 | issue = 1 | year = 1968 | pages = 1–17 | url = https://www.aeaweb.org/aer/top20/58.1.1-17.pdf?version=meter+at+null&module=meter-Links&pgtype=article&contentId=&mediaId=&referrer=&priority=true&action=click&contentCollection=meter-links-click }}
* {{cite journal | first = Milton | last = Friedman | author-mask = 1 | title = Nobel Lecture: Inflation and Unemployment | journal = Journal of Political Economy | volume = 85 | issue = 3 | year = 1977 | pages = 451–72 | doi = 10.1086/260579 }}
* {{cite journal | first = Milton | last = Friedman | author-mask = 1 | title = The Limitations of Tax Limitation | journal = [[Quadrant (magazine)|Quadrant]] | volume = 22 | issue = 8 | year = 1978 | pages = 22–24 | url = https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/informit.148513023132864 }}

== See also ==
* [[Causes of the Great Depression]]
* [[David D. Friedman]]
* [[History of economic thought]]
* [[List of economists]]
* [[List of Jewish Nobel laureates]]
* [[List of Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients]]
* [[Ludwig von Mises]]
* [[Monetary/fiscal debate]]
* [[Patri Friedman]]
* "[[We are all Keynesians now]]"

== Explanatory notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

=== Sources ===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |title=Essays on the Great Depression |first=Ben |last=Bernanke |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |year=2004 |isbn=978-0691118208 }}
* {{cite book |last=Ebenstein |first=Alan O. |year=2007 |title=Milton Friedman: A Biography |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0mdWW-z1OPcC&pg=PA89 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=978-0230603455 }}
* {{cite book |title=Two Lucky People: Memoirs |url=https://archive.org/details/twoluckypeopleme00frie |url-access=registration |first=Milton |last=Friedman |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-0226264158 }}
{{refend}}

== Further reading ==
<!-- Don't put Friedman's works here—we already have a Bibliography section above. If items must be added, they should be reading about him, not by him.-->
{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?531388-1/after-words-jennifer-burns ''After Words'' interview with Jennifer Burns on ''Milton Friedman: The Last Conservative'', December 1, 2023], [[C-SPAN]]}}
* {{Cite book |last=Burns |first=Jennifer |year=2023 |title=Milton Friedman: The Last Conservative |location=New York |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |isbn=978-0374601140 |oclc=1355021202}}
* {{cite journal |title=Symposium: Why Is There No Milton Friedman Today? |journal=Econ Journal Watch |date=May 2013 |volume=10 |issue=2 |url=http://econjwatch.org/issues/volume-10-issue-2-may-2013}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |title=Milton Friedman (1912–2006) |url=http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/bios/Friedman.html |encyclopedia=[[The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics]] |edition=2nd |series=[[Library of Economics and Liberty]] |publisher=[[Liberty Fund]] |year=2008|isbn=978-0865976665 |editor-first=David R.|editor-last=Henderson |editor-link=David R. Henderson |pages=533–37 }}
* Jones, Daniel Stedman. ''Masters of the Universe: Hayek, Friedman, and the Birth of Neoliberal Politics'' (2nd ed. 2014)
* {{cite journal |last=McCloskey |first=Deirdre |author-link=Deirdre McCloskey |title=Other Things Equal: Milton |journal=[[Eastern Economic Journal]] |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=143–146 |jstor=40326463 |date=Winter 2003 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Steelman |first=Aaron |editor-first=Ronald |editor-last=Hamowy |editor-link=Ronald Hamowy |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yxNgXs3TkJYC |doi=10.4135/9781412965811.n118 |year=2008 |publisher=[[SAGE Publishing|Sage]]; [[Cato Institute]] |location=Thousand Oaks, CA |isbn=978-1412965804 |oclc=750831024 |lccn=2008009151 |pages=195–197 |chapter=Friedman, Milton (1912–2006)}}
* {{Cite book |editor1-last=Wood |editor1-first=John Cunningham |editor1-link=John Cunningham Wood |editor2=Ronald N. Wood |year=1990 |title=Milton Friedman: Critical Assessments |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_juHqHUkJAMC |series=Critical Assessments of Contemporary Economists Vol. IV |location=London |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0415020053 |oclc=20296405}}

== External links ==
{{Sister project links |wikt=no |b=no |n=Economist Milton Friedman dies at 94 |s=no |v=no| commonscat=yes}}
* [http://miltonfriedman.hoover.org Collected Works of Milton Friedman] (Multiple Text, audio, video)
* [http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf7t1nb2hx/ The Milton Friedman papers] at the [http://www.hoover.org/library-archives Hoover Institution Archives]
* [https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/busecon/econfac/Friedman.html Selected Bibliography for Milton Friedman] at the [[University of Chicago Library]]
* [https://ideas.repec.org/e/pfr10.html Profile] and [http://econpapers.repec.org/RAS/pfr10.htm Papers] at [[Research Papers in Economics]]/RePEc
* {{New York Times topic|new_id=person/milton-friedman}}
* [http://bfi.uchicago.edu/ Becker Friedman Institute] at the [[University of Chicago]]
* [http://www.edchoice.org/ The Foundation for Educational Choice]
* [http://www.economictheories.org/2008/08/milton-friedman-histor-theory-biography.html Milton Fridman] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190828223915/http://www.economictheories.org/2008/08/milton-friedman-histor-theory-biography.html |date=August 28, 2019 }} at Scarlett
* [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/1976/friedman-lecture.html Inflation and Unemployment] 1976 lecture at [[NobelPrize.org]]
* [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/1976/friedman-speech.html Nobel Memorial Prize acceptance speech]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090720073859/http://www.newsweek.com/id/207218 Milton Friedman vs. The Fed Bailout] by Michael Hirsh, ''[[Newsweek]]'', July 17, 2009
* [https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/opinion/01stockman.html Four Deformations of the Apocalypse], [[David Stockman]], ''[[The New York Times]]'', July 31, 2010
* {{cite web |last=Roberts |first=Russ |title=Milton Friedman Podcasts |url=http://www.econtalk.org/archives/_featuring/milton_friedman/ |website=[[EconTalk]] |publisher=[[Library of Economics and Liberty]] |author-link=Russ Roberts}}
* {{Google Scholar id|DV6pTH0AAAAJ}}
* [https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/author/139 A collection of Milton Friedman's works]

'''Videos'''
* {{C-SPAN|20878}}
** [https://www.c-span.org/video/?61272-1/milton-friedman-road-serfdom ''Booknotes'' interview with Friedman on the 50th Anniversary Edition of F.A. Hayek's ''Road to Serfdom'', November 20, 1994.]
** [https://www.c-span.org/video/?159003-1/depth-milton-friedman ''In Depth'' interview with Friedman, September 3, 2000]
* {{Internet Archive film clip|id=openmind_ep494|description="The Open Mind – Living Within Our Means (1975)"}}
* {{Internet Archive film clip|id=openmind_ep493|description="The Open Mind – A Nobel Laureate on the American Economy (1977)"}}
* {{Charlie Rose guest|id=3988}}
* [https://miltonfriedman.blogspot.com/ {{"'}}Free to Choose' (1980) a [PBS&#93; TV series by Milton Friedman"]
* {{YouTube|id=f1Fj5tzuYBE|title=''Free to Choose''}}
* [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/shared/minitext/int_miltonfriedman.html Milton Friedman], ''Commanding Heights'', [[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]], October 1, 2000, interview, profile and video
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061201002106/http://www.cato.org/special/friedman/ Milton Friedman] at the [[Cato Institute]]
* [http://www.freetochoose.net/ Free to Choose Network]

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