The Life and Policy of Milton Friedman

It can be said that Milton Friedman was one of the most influential and popular American, if not even the worlds, economist of the 21st century and the anti-thesis of John Keynes. He has written a number of books, articles, scientific papers and studies and even won the Nobel Prize. Throughout his life he has promoted free enterprise, economic freedom and minimal government intervention in economy. He has influenced the US government and many others with his ideas and work. The work he has done has shaped economy and the way we will look into the future and how we will make decisions.

Friedman was born on 31 July 1912 in Brooklyn, NY. His parents Jeno Friedman and Saea Landau were both recent immigrants from Hungary and met in New York. When Milton was born the family moved to a small town in NJ. He was the youngest of four siblings and the only son. His mother worked a steady job in retail while his father tried several entrepreneurial ventures to which most amounted to nothing. While in NJ Friedman attended public middle and high schools and graduating Rahway High School in1928. During his senior year when Friedman was 16 his father passed away leaving his mother and two older sisters to provide for the family. While throughout most of his youth and college money was tight Friedman did not experience severe poverty.

After high school Friedman received a scholarship to Rutgers University which at the time was a small and relatively unknown school. At Rutgers Friedman primary focus was on mathematics and not economics at first. While planning to become an actuary Friedman became interested in economics and later on ended up possessing degrees in both

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mathematics and economics. At Rutgers he met Homer Jones who influenced Friedman to continue on with graduate work and through his recommendation University of Chicago offered Friedman a scholarship. In 1933 he received and M.A. from Chicago. Same year he also met Rose Director who was another...