Milton Friedman, RIP

Last Friday, Milton Friedman, a Nobel Prize winner and one of the world's most influential economists, died at the age of 94. Friedman was a tireless advocate of individual liberty and free markets. Through his scholarly research and his many writings, lectures, and debates, he brought the full force of his wit and intellect to bear against statists and economic meddlers everywhere, from the central planners of the former Soviet Union to the Keynesian "New Economists" here in the United States.

I own two books by Milton Friedman: Free to Choose, probably his most popular, co-authored with his wife Rose, and Money Mischief: Episodes in Monetary History. Free to Choose is a masterpiece - an easy-to-understand book of economic first principles that should be part of any conservative or libertarian's library. Even though it was written in 1979, it remains one of the central economic playbooks for conservatives. In it, Friedman lays out the economic arguments for privatizing Social Security, rolling back the welfare state, flattening the income tax, and providing vouchers for primary and secondary education. To find out how to go about creating a freer and more prosperous society, read Free to Choose.

I could go on and on, but there has been so much written about Friedman over the past few days that anything I could add would be trivial in comparison. I've linked to some of the best below.

Obituaries

Chicago Tribune

London Telegraph

Financial Times

New York Times

The Guardian

The Cato Institute

Remembering Milton Friedman

William F. Buckley, Jr.: "Milton Friedman, RIP"
Buckley says goodbye to an old friend.

National Review Editors: From "Window on the Week"
"...liberty has lost a great friend and champion."

Iain Murray: "Friedman's Legacy"
How Friedman influenced not just one Brit, but all of Britain

Tim Worstall: "His Ideas Had Consequences"
Another Brit remarks on how Friedman's ideas changed Britain

David Boaz: "The World Turner"
"Over his long life, he had the satisfaction of seeing the world turn in his direction."

Thomas Sowell: "Freedom Man"
Sowell recalls how Friedman rescued Economics.

Ben Stein: "Milton Friedman, Freedom Fighter"
Stein says that Friedman "rewrote our economic memory."

Robert Samuelson: "How Milton Friedman Changed the World"
A man of ideas in the arena

Doug Bandow: "Losing a Giant of Liberty"
How Friedman turned socialists into "intellectual roadkill"

Arnold Kling: "Milton Friedman's Case"
"Friedman won [his arguments] on merit, because his basic position was correct."

Larry Summers: "The Great Liberator"
Clinton's former Treasury Secretary makes the debatable point that "...any honest Democrat will admit that we are now all Friedmanites."

Paul Craig Roberts: "Insightful economist"
"Mr. Friedman was the great economist of our time, who more than anyone saved the economics profession from dogma."

Niall Ferguson: "Friedman is dead, monetarism is dead, but what about inflation?"
Ferguson considers the often-repeated Friedman line: "Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon."

Wall Street Journal: "Friedman's Sampler"
A compilation of Friedman's writings from the Wall Street Journal

The Telegraph: "Thatcher praises Friedman, her freedom fighter"
A quote from Lady Thatcher: "Milton Friedman revived the economics of liberty when it had been all but forgotten. He was an intellectual freedom fighter. Never was there a less dismal practitioner of a dismal science. I shall greatly miss my old friend's lucid wisdom and mordant humour."

The Economist: "An enduring legacy"
The marks of greatness.

The Competitive Enterprise Institute: "Statement on the Life of Milton Friedman"
"Many freedom fighters burn out, retire from the field, become disillusioned, even cynical. Most people grow tired when their efforts are demonized, attacked and ignored. We're all human and we can do only so much. But one individual never retreated, never retired from the war of ideas – the war to advance individual and economic liberty."



Video Links:

Friedman discusses libertarianism with Peter Robinson on Uncommon Knowledge.
Link via DartBlog. In part of the interview, Friedman discusses the South's Jim Crow laws.

Friedman discusses limited government on a very old PBS program called The Open Mind. A great video. If you want to know what Friedman believed and why he was so hated by the Left, then watch this video, in which he discusses limited government, conservatism, the minimum wage, Social Security, and welfare. (One remark: This is a great interview. This is good journalism. This is a serious, civil, exchange of ideas. Sometimes, "turning back the clock" doesn't sound like such a bad idea, huh?)

Transcripts and video samples from PBS Free to Choose TV series

Video and audio links from Freetochoose.net.

Friedman Resources:

Free to Choose main web site

Friedman biography and assorted links at the Free to Choose web site

Friedman's autobiography at the Nobel Prize web site