An Insight into the Achievements of the Economics Maestro Milton Friedman

Posted by Timeless Issues on January 10th, 2020

A Nobel laureate and a gifted and highly celebrated American economist Milton Friedman was a strong proponent of the free market system. The Nobel was awarded to him in 1976 for his extensive and impressive research on monetary history, consumption analysis, and theory and the complexity of stabilization policy in the field of Economic Sciences. A controversial yet celebrated man for his incredible hold in the field of American and world economy.

The early life and education of Milton Friedman.

Milton Friedman was born on 31 July 1912 in the borough of New York City, Brooklyn, in the United States. Having done his schooling from Chicago school this talented young man then went on to educate himself from the University of Chicago and Rutgers University. Later he became an advisor to President Ronald Reagan during the 1980s. This over the edge economist was monumental in shaping the well-known American monetary policy for several decades. He was later awarded the highest civilian award in the United States known as the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1988, for his unmatched brilliance in the field of economics and service to the country.

Friedman's theory of the free market.

Milton Friedman was a firm believer in the free market theory. The key feature of this theory was the common men and the buyers would together decide the price of the basic commodities with no whatsoever control of the government. Friedman believed that the governing bodies deciding the price of an object would definitely mean the lack of basic rights on the economy by the basic lot.

Friedman doctrine.

One of the most controversial theories that Milton Friedman housed was the Friedman doctrine or stockholder theory. It stated that is was the company's responsibility to increase the profit of the stockholders without the involvement of any forgery or fraudulent practices.

The theory of the consumption function.

Friedman's theory of consumption firmly believes that the power of economic growth solely lies on the shoulders of the common man. He in this theory states that people shall make decisions about spending their money based on the assumption on what their income will be over time. Friedman termed the scheme as 'permanent income' and not just the generic current income.

Friedman's most celebrated works.

Friedman went on to present his economic expertise to the general masses with many books authored by him. Some of his most well-known and celebrated works are as follows:

• Capitalism and freedom.
• Free to choose.
• Money mischief.
• Tyranny of the Status Quo.
• Why government is the problem.
• Two lucky people: memoirs.
• Milton Friedman's monetary framework.
• The great contraction 1929-33.
• Bright promise, dismal promises.
• Price theory.
• A theory of the consumption function.
• The optimum quantity of money.
• The demand for money.
• A program for monetary stability.
• A monetary history of the United States 1957-60.
• Monetary vs. fiscal freedom.

An influential economist.

A versatile and well-versed economist, Milton Friedman was a firm believer in the free market capitalism and was one of the very few economists who boldly opposed the generic Keynesian economists. He did every bit possible to maximize the profits of the stockholders and that surely makes him one of the wisest unsung heroes of all times.