Economists - Milton Friedman (1912- )

Milton Friedman is the best known of all Monetarists. In fact to most people he is probably the only Monetarist they know (if they even know what a Monetarist is!). He is a well-known economist and one of the select elite in our Virtual Economy who has won a Nobel Prize in economics. He was awarded this in 1976.

He was born in New York in 1912 and after some time working at Columbia University and for the government, he became Professor of Economics at Chicago University. It is here that he did much of his best-known work and was surrounded by many other Monetarists. They are often termed the 'Chicago School' of Monetarist economists for obvious reasons. Milton Friedman is more than just an economist though - he is almost an evangelist! He is a great believer in the power of the free market and much of his work has been based around this. He even made a series of television programmes in the early 1980s entitled 'Free to Choose'. There is also a book of the same name. He was always a controversial character, but fought his corner very skilfully. It was his work that influenced the Tory government of Mrs Thatcher to adopt Monetarist policies in 1979 when it was elected.

His work remains highly influential and is still controversial. Follow the links below for more details about his work and his theories.

Biography | Work | Theories