Milton Friedman, RIP
November 16, 2006| By Nathaniel Ward
In this 1986 photo taken at a Heritage Foundation event, Milton Friedman, right, poses with his wife Rose, Heritage President Ed Feulner and President Ronald Reagan.
Free-market economist Milton Friedman died today at age 94. His pioneering work helped make the conservative movement what it is today.
An opponent of government controls on the economy, the University of Chicago professor was among the most influential economists of the 20th century. The Nobel Prize laureate was a successful advocate for a number of conservative ideas, such as the use of monetary policy to control inflation, an all-volunteer military and school vouchers.
“Milton Friedman was small in stature but a giant in the world of ideas,” Heritage President Ed Feulner said in a statement on his passing. “His passion and wisdom extended well beyond the field of economics and combined to make him one of the most compelling advocates of human freedom the world has known.”
Feulner explained that his “ideas have empowered millions of people to pursue their destiny, opening for them new economic and educational opportunities that have made them more productive and more prosperous.”
In a 1997 essay reproduced in The March of Freedom, Feulner praised Friedman for his work on behalf of free enterprise.
Milton Friedman is the spokesman and symbol of the remarkable revival of neoclassical economics in our time. As a groundbreaking scholar, influential teacher, intimidating debater, television personality, widely read columnist and advisor to presidents and prime ministers, he has defended the efficiency and nobility of markets and revealed the justice found in freedom.
Click here to read the entire essay (PDF excerpt from The March of Freedom).
Friedman’s legacy of freedom continues to inspire us at The Heritage Foundation, and we owe a debt of gratitude to Friedman’s work over the past decades.
The Heritage Foundation mourns his passing. He was an inspiration to believers in freedom and liberty.
Nathaniel Ward is the Editor of MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation.
