During my undergraduate studies Milton Friedman and the Chicago School of Economics was vilified as though it was the root of all evil. The neo-right on the political realm took up many of his theories however through study, experience and my own research I’ve come to realize I think Mr. Friedman was misunderstood in many ways. I was particularity impressed with the emphasis and responsibility he placed on the individual in society and the citizens relationship and role with government. As a thought leader Milton Friedman’s legacy runs deep and looking forward it would not surprise me to see his perspectives pick up popularity within the emerging Global Social Enterprise sector, putting the responsibility on individuals and free enterprises to solve problems and not governments. He challenged John Maynard Keynes the king of western civilization economics for well over a generation, I respect that.
Milton Friedman (July 31, 1912 – November 16, 2006) was an American economist, statistician, and writer who taught at the University of Chicago for more than three decades. He was a recipient of the 1976 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, and is known for his research on consumption analysis, monetary history and theory, and the complexity of stabilization policy.[1] As a leader of the Chicago school of economics, he profoundly influenced the research agenda of the economics profession. A survey of economists ranked Friedman as the second most popular economist of the twentieth century after John Maynard Keynes,[2] andThe Economist described him as “the most influential economist of the second half of the 20th century … possibly of all of it.”[3]