Memorable Mentors: Milton Friedman

Ed and Ron will discuss Milton Friedman, who was one of the most influential economists of the twentieth century. He received the Nobel Memorial Prize for Economic Science in 1976, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1988. He served as an unofficial adviser to presidential candidate Barry Goldwater and Presidents Nixon and Reagan. The author of many best-selling books, including Capitalism and Freedom, Free to Choose (with his late wife, Rose), among others. His PhD dissertation, written in 1941, was a fascinating study of five different professions, titled Income from Independent Professional Practice. Its publication was delayed until 1945 because of the controversy it created. Friedman (and co-author Simon Kuznets) concluded that the medical profession had monopolistic powers that enabled it to raise physicians’ incomes above a competitive level. He was also partly responsible for the tax withholding act in the 1940s, and the end of the draft during the Nixon Administration.