Most Popular Books by Milton Friedman

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER A powerful and persuasive discussion about economics, freedom, and the relationship between the two, from today''s brightest economist. In this classic discussion, Milton and Rose Friedman explain how our freedom has been eroded and our affluence undermined through the explosion of laws, regulations, agencies, and spending in Washington. This important analysis reveals what has gone wrong in America in the past and what is necessary for our economic health to flourish.

Selected by the Times Literary Supplement as one of the "hundred most influential books since the war" How can we benefit from the promise of government while avoiding the threat it poses to individual freedom? In this classic book, Milton Friedman provides the definitive statement of his immensely influential economic philosophy—one in which competitive capitalism serves as both a device for achieving economic freedom and a necessary condition for political freedom. The result is an accessible text that has sold well over half a million copies in English, has been translated into eighteen languages, and shows every sign of becoming more and more influential as time goes on.

On his death in the autumn of 2006, Milton Friedman was lauded as “the grandmaster of free-market economic theory in the postwar era” by the New York Times and “the most influential economist of the second half of the 20th century” by the Economist. Winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1976, Friedman was both a highly respected economist and a prominent public intellectual, the leader of a revolution in economic and political thought that argued robustly in favor of virtues of free markets and laissez-faire policies. Milton Friedman on Economics: Selected Papers collects a variety of Friedman’s papers on topics in economics that were originally published in the Journal of Political Economy. Opening with Friedman’s 1977 Nobel Lecture, the volume spans nearly the whole of his career, incorporating papers from as early as 1948 and as late as 1990. An excellent introduction to Friedman’s economic thought, Milton Friedman will be essential for anyone tracing the course of twentieth-century economics and politics.

Friedman and Schwartz''s A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960, published in 1963, stands as one of the most influential economics books of the twentieth century. A landmark achievement, the book marshaled massive historical data and sharp analytics to support the claim that monetary policy--steady control of the money supply--matters profoundly in the management of the nation''s economy, especially in navigating serious economic fluctuations. The chapter entitled "The Great Contraction, 1929-33" addressed the central economic event of the century, the Great Depression. Published as a stand-alone paperback in 1965, The Great Contraction, 1929-1933 argued that the Federal Reserve could have stemmed the severity of the Depression, but failed to exercise its role of managing the monetary system and ameliorating banking panics. The book served as a clarion call to the monetarist school of thought by emphasizing the importance of the money supply in the functioning of the economy--a concept that has come to inform the actions of central banks worldwide. This edition of the original text includes a new preface by Anna Jacobson Schwartz, as well as a new introduction by the economist Peter Bernstein. It also reprints comments from the current Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, originally made on the occasion of Milton Friedman''s 90th birthday, on the enduring influence of Friedman and Schwartz''s work and vision.

This "rich autobiographical and historical panorama" ("Wall Street Journal") provides a memorable and lively account of the lives of the Friedmans: their involvement with world leaders and many of this century''s most important public policy issues. 26 photos.

The Nobel Prize–winning economist explains how value is created, and how that affects everything from your paycheck to global markets. In this “lively, enlightening introduction to monetary history” (Kirkus Reviews), one of the leading figures of the Chicago school of economics that rejected the theories of John Maynard Keynes offers a journey through history to illustrate the importance of understanding monetary economics, and how monetary theory can ignite or deepen inflation. With anecdotes revealing the far-reaching consequences of seemingly minor events—for example, how two obscure Scottish chemists destroyed the presidential prospects of William Jennings Bryan, and how FDR’s domestic politics helped communism triumph in China—as well as plain-English explanations of what the monetary system in the United States means for your personal finances and for everyone from the small business owner on Main Street to the banker on Wall Street, Money Mischief is an enlightening read from the author of Capitalism and Freedom and Free to Choose, who was called “the most influential economist of the second half of the twentieth century” by the Economist.

“Magisterial. . . . The direct and indirect influence of the Monetary History would be difficult to overstate.”—Ben S. Bernanke, Nobel Prize–winning economist and former chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve From Nobel Prize–winning economist Milton Friedman and his celebrated colleague Anna Jacobson Schwartz, one of the most important economics books of the twentieth century—the landmark work that rewrote the story of the Great Depression and the understanding of monetary policy Milton Friedman and Anna Jacobson Schwartz’s A Monetary History of the United States, 1867–1960 is one of the most influential economics books of the twentieth century. A landmark achievement, it marshaled massive historical data and sharp analytics to argue that monetary policy—steady control of the money supply—matters profoundly in the management of the nation’s economy, especially in navigating serious economic fluctuations. One of the book’s most important chapters, “The Great Contraction, 1929–33” addressed the central economic event of the twentieth century, the Great Depression. Friedman and Schwartz argued that the Federal Reserve could have stemmed the severity of the Depression, but failed to exercise its role of managing the monetary system and countering banking panics. The book served as a clarion call to the monetarist school of thought by emphasizing the importance of the money supply in the functioning of the economy—an idea that has come to shape the actions of central banks worldwide.

This classic set of essays by Nobel Laureate and leading monetary theorist Milton Friedman presents a coherent view of the role of money, focusing on specific topics related to the empirical analysis of monetary phenomena and policy. The early chapters cover factors determining the real quantity of money held in a community and the welfare implications of policies that affect the quantity held. The following chapters formally restate why quantity analysis has become central to the science of economics. Friedman''s presidential address to the American Economic Association, included here, provides a general summary of his views on the role of monetary policy, with an emphasis on its limitations and its possibilities. This theoretical framework is used in examining a number of empirical problems: the demand for money, the explanation of price changes in wartime periods, and the role of money in business cycles. These essays summarize some of the most important results of Friedman''s extensive research over the course of his lifetime. The chapters on policy that follow survey the positions of earlier economists and deal with the importance of lags and the implications of destabilizing speculation in foreign markets. Taken as a whole, The Optimum Quantity of Money provides a comprehensive view of the body of monetary theory developed in leading centers of monetary analysis. This work is essential reading for economists and graduate students in the field. The volume will be no less important for practicing business and banking personnel as well. The new statement by Michael Bordo, a student of Friedman''s and an expert in the field, provides a sense of where the field now stands in the economy and academy.

This paper is concerned primarily with certain methodological problems that arise in constructing the "distinct positive science" that John Neville Keynes called for, in particular, the problem how to decide whether a suggested hypothesis or theory should be tentatively accepted as part of the "body of systematized knowledge concerning what is."

Friedman discusses a government system that is no longer controlled by "we, the people." Instead of Lincoln''s government "of the people, by the people, and for the people," we now have a government "of the people, by the bureaucrats, for the bureaucrats," including the elected representatives who have become bureaucrats.

Discusses political economy, political freedom, governmental regulations, monetary policy, taxation, and international economics.

MONETARY PROBLEMS—a by-product of the indirect system of exchange—have long plagued the nations of the world. History is replete with instances in which such problems led not only to economic instability and uncertainty, but to political crises as well. In our own American experience there has hardly been a period when the economy was not beset by one type of monetary ill or another. Consider, for example, the more important monetary disturbances of our own time, viz., those of the last 30 years or so. Our legacy from the financial collapse of 1929 was a monetary and banking system which was virtually defunct. Though some progress was made in shoring up our monetary and banking institutions after 1933, this of itself was inadequate to help us escape the deflation and mass unemployment which persisted throughout the 1930’s. For the decade of the 1940’s, of course, the pendulum swung to the other side of the arc. Following the outbreak of World War II, and particularly after our direct involvement in 1941, an attempt was made to hold the line against inflation. This attempt achieved at best only partial success. Support by the Federal Reserve System of the prices of government securities, wartime military expenditures, the postwar investment boom, and the postwar pent-up demand for consumer goods backed by liquid assets acquired during the War combined to produce a rise in prices throughout the War and early postwar period. Although inflation subsided somewhat after 1948, it was intensified by the outbreak of hostilities in Korea in the period after 1950. During the latter part of 1953, and throughout 1954 and 1955, prices remained relatively stable. But in 1956, the inflationary rise received a new stimulus. Caused largely by another investment boom, the inflationary movement had such momentum that it caused prices to rise even in the face of the 1957-1958 recession. Professor Friedman’s objective in this third of the Moorhouse I. X. Millar Lecture Series is certainly not one of finding a formula which will eradicate all uncertainty and instability attending monetary disturbances. For these, as he puts it, are “unavoidable concomitants of progress and change.” However, it is possible to attenuate further the amplitude of our fluctuations by modifying, and in some cases completely revamping the monetary and banking arrangements currently in force in the United States. Specifically, this is the task to which Professor Friedman addresses himself. This classic is organized as follows: Chapter One. The Background of Monetary Policy Why Should Government Intervene in Monetary and Banking Questions? The Historical Background The Period From 1837 To 1843 The Contraction of 1873-79 The 1890’s The Contraction of 1907-08 Under the Federal Reserve System Conclusion Chapter Two. The Tools of the Federal Reserve System Tools of Specific Credit Policy Eligibility Requirements Control Over Margin Requirements Control Over Consumer Installment Credit Control Over Interest Paid by Banks on Deposits Tools of Monetary Policy The Sufficiency of Open Market Operations Rediscounting Variation in Reserve Requirements Conclusion Chapter Three. Debt Management and Banking Reform Debt Management Banking Reform Defects of Present Banking System Possible Remedies How 100% Reserves Would Work Transition to 100% Reserves The Relation of 100% Reserves to Debt Management Why Interest Should Be Paid on Reserves How Interest Payments on Reserves Might Be Determined Conclusion Chapter Four. The Goals and Criteria of Monetary Policy International Monetary Relations Internal Monetary Policy Conclusion Summary of Recommendations

In this book, Robert Leeson and Charles Palm have assembled an amazing collection of Milton Friedman''s best works on freedom. Even more amazing is that the selection represents only 1 percent of the 1,500 works by Friedman that Leeson and Palm have put online in a user-friendly format—and an even smaller percentage if you include their archive of Friedman''s audio and television recordings, correspondence, and other writings. This book and the larger online collection are sorely needed and very welcome. Milton Friedman deserves to be read in the original by generation after generation. These days, many people channel Friedman to support their own views, which sometimes are quite contrary to his actual views. With so much of it now readily available, everyone will find it easier to remember and learn from what he actually wrote and said. Readers will find the book refreshing whether or not they are already familiar with Friedman''s work.

This thought-provoking and influential book by a distinguished economist examines whether consumption behavior can be defined in a way that''s supported by empirical evidence and useful for research and planning.

Chiefly columns originally published in Newsweek magazine, 1966-72.

The special task of this book is to present a statistical and theoretical analysis of the relation between the quantity of money and other key economic magnitudes over periods longer than those dominated by cyclical fluctuations-hence the term trends in the title. This book is not restricted to the United States but includes comparable data for the United Kingdom.

"Over its life the Review printed seminal writing on free market and conservative topics by remarkably mature students and by Russell Kirk, Ludwig von Mises, George Stigler, Benjamin Rogge, and other already established men. What characterized the Review writers was their rigor of thought and concern for principles, features that coexist naturally.--Chronicles"Initially sponsored by the University of Chicago Chapter of the Intercollegiate Society of Individualists, the "New Individualist Review" was more than the usual "campus magazine." It declared itself "founded in a commitment to human liberty." Between 1961 and 1968, seventeen issues were published which attracted a national audience of readers. Its contributors spanned the libertarian-conservative spectrum, from F. A. Hayek and Ludwig von Mises to Richard M. Weaver and William F. Buckley, Jr.In his introduction to this reprint edition, Milton Friedman--one of the magazine''s faculty advisors--writes that the "Review" set "an intellectual standard that has not yet, I believe, been matched by any of the more recent publications in the same philosophical tradition.