Milton Friedman, dies at 94 Milton Friedman, free market economist, and Noble Price laureate, died on November 16 at the age of 94.

Whether we have heard of Milton Friedman or not, his thoughts and policies influenced by his thoughts have certainly had a major influence on the way we live our lives today. Milton Friedman was a free market economist building his career at a time when government intervention was the buzz-word and Milton Keynes was in vogue. The only intervention Mr Friedman would have allowed was the monetary kind. He believed that the government should stay out of managing the economic life of the citizens of the country, and the only thing the government should control is the money supply which could help in smoothening the impact of inflationery pressures.

His ideas were not immediately accepted in the post-Great Depression world. However, his forecast of stagflation in the 1970s and its subsequent occurence made many theorists and policy-makers sit up and take notice. Acceptance of his theories was gradual, but consistent and in the present world, his policies and ideas are almost universally followed.

While I have not read many of his books, I have been strongly influenced by one of his quotes. The following quote highlights his pre-eminence as an economist and as a social scientist:
“progress could be achieved only in an order in which government activity is limited primarily to establishing the framework with which individuals are free to pursue their own objectives.”. The quote is from his book "The Road to Serfdom" and puts his theory across more cogently than any 500 page book.  ¶ 11:00 AM