Milton Friedman 1912 - 2006
Milton Friedman is the reason that you can go to sleep at night and not worry about another 30's style Depression. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1976 for his work on Monetary Theory. In English, he explained to the World how the Federal Reserve System should work, how monetary policy should work, and how to make sure that another Depression never happened. Before him, no one had the faintest idea how monetary policy actually worked. Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke have already made public pronouncements about his guiding insights that either enabled Greenspan, or guide Bernanke to running this Countries daily economic affairs.
You might or might not like his politics, but one thing was certain, his economics worked. The last project he was working on was removing government from its last bastion of total power, education. He was a strong proponent of vouchers in education.
One of the greatest thinkers of the 20th Century has passed on.
10 comments:
That's a shame. I literally just started reading about his work in my political science class.
It's too bad that I didn't seen anything in the paper about his passing. Interesting blog.
Fred- You're in for some of the most interesting economics you have ever read.
Matt- he just died. I got it off of CNBC. It'll be in the Post tomorrow. I'm assuming you read the Washington Post.
You mean I lost all that sleep worring about another Depression for nothing?
Nice tribute.
Mist- We won't have another 30's style depression. We had the opportunity already and we never came close. Not even a little.
Interesting analysis. In this morning's (UK) press he's billed as the bloke who gave Reagan and Thatcher their ideas. All I could think was 'Well that means it must be getting near Thatcher's time, too. Result!'
There'll be dancing in the streets when that evil harridan goes. If she ever does - there's a rumour she's not even human...
Puss
Puss- That would be his view on taxes, which was that they should be eliminated. The less money you took in taxes, the more economic activity, and the more employment. The Conservatives bought it first. Now, so do the Liberals.
Margaret Thatcher is an elderly stateswoman long retired from the public view. She was to Ronald Reagan what Tony Blair has been to both Bill Clinton and George Bush, a close personal friend and a stout ally.
The diplomacy is flowing this morning before I have had any coffee. Woot. Pro or con, Milton Friedman was still the Greatest Economist of the 20th Century for explaining thoroughly for the first time precisely the role of the Central Bank and Monetary Policy. Prior to his work on the Capital Supply, no one really had an idea how the economy was affected by Monetary Policy at all. He evolved the role of the Monetarist.
excellent tribute.
You know what's interesting ...and weird sort of...this years' Nobel Peace Prize Winner is also an Economics genius. He won for creating a bank that has nearly pulled his country out of poverty. Fascinating man and story.
RIP Mr. Friedman...your work is being carried on by great minds like yours :)
The micro bank concept has been around and implemented for years. It took one genius to save his country by turning a bank into a lender to bootstrap operations of $200 and less in a developing country. The default rate was minuscule, less than 2%, and the people started developing their own economy, and enormous self-satisfaction. Thanks EM! Economics are welcome here.
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