Milton Friedman's longstanding advocacy in favor of floating exchange rates has contributed to a mistaken belief that he opposed currency board regimes or outright dollarization. Nothing could be further from the truth. Over a period of almost five decades Friedman consistently made it clear...

F. A. Hayek took two trips to Chile, the first in 1977, the second in 1981. The visits were controversial. On the first trip he met with Genera l Augusto Pinochet, who had led a coup that overthrew Salvador Allende in 1973. During his 1981 visit, Ha yek gave interviews that were published in the...

This article traces the evolution of Milton Friedman’s ideological views over the course of his adult life. It finds the evolution to be from a moderate liberalism to a definite classical liberalism and then, during the last 50 years of his life, to an increasingly robust libertarianism....

F. A. Hayek took two trips to Chile, the first in 1977, the second in 1981. The visits were controversial. On the first trip he met with Genera l Augusto Pinochet, who had led a coup that overthrew Salvador Allende in 1973. During his 1981 visit, Ha yek gave interviews that were published in the...

Rose Friedman (née Director), the Chicago-trained economist, was a very important contributor to Milton Friedman’s scholarly output, popular writings, and television series. His remarkable role in society was to a significant extent a joint role from which she cannot be separated.

One answer is that Milton Friedman possessed a rare combination of attributes that enabled him to communicate as easily with a mass audience as with his professional peers. He also emerged on the public stage at a time when his message of limited government had unusual resonance. Developments in...

This essay responds to the question, “Why is there no Milton Friedman today?” In doing so, it briefly examines several aspects of Friedman’s professional life that contributed to his success in the academic, policy, and public realms as well as the influence of the social and political...

This article addresses two questions: Are there fewer economist public intellectuals today than previously, and if so, why? and: Are there fewer economists who support free markets today, and if so, why? It answers yes to the first question, suggesting that the selection process for graduate...

Why is there no Milton Friedman today? The new structure of things—or lack of structure—makes it hard for someone to emerge as a focal representative of classical liberalism. But every day, innumerable souls breathe new vitality into the cogent perspective that Friedman and others gave to...

That there is no Milton Friedman today is not a mystery; the mystery is how Milton Friedman could have been. The facts of Friedman’s biography make him unique among twentieth-century public figures. He had extensive knowledge and expertise in mathematics and statistics. Yet he became a critic...