One of the Greats Has Fallen – R.I.P. Milton Friedman

Milton Friedman, the great popularizer of free markets and “Monetarism”, emphasizing the importance of monetary policy in contrast to Keynes emphasis on fiscal policy, is dead at 94. 

Friedman was one of the important intellectual voices in the movement towards free markets in the last 30 years.  His Capitalism and Freedom, first published in 1962, is one of the best books on economics published in the 20th century. 

Here is a part of what Cato Institute founder Ed Crane had to say about Milton Friedman this morning:

Here’s a guy who won the Nobel Prize in economics for his work in monetary theory and he was a great Chicagoan, a great empiricist and theoretician of economics. But ultimately, what Milton believed in was human liberty and he took great joy in trying to promote that concept….Milton would say, ‘Maybe I did well and maybe I led the battle but nobody ever said we were going to win this thing at any point in time. Eternal vigilance is required and there have to be people who step up to the plate, who believe in liberty, and who are willing to fight for it.’

Thank You Milton Friedman for all your good work.  R.I.P.