Milton Friedman was an American Nobel Prize-winning economist and leader of the Chicago School of Economics whose empirical research on monetary history, consumption analysis, and advocacy of free markets fundamentally transformed modern economic policy.
Economics
Nobel Laureate Economist, Monetarist Scholar, and Public Intellectual
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Honor the extraordinary legacy of Milton Friedman on November 16 with these curated quotes, philosophical reflections, and heartfelt tributes celebrating their monumental impact on Nobel Laureate Economist, Monetarist Scholar, and Public Intellectual.
“A society that puts equality before freedom will get neither. A society that puts freedom before equality will get a high degree of both.”
“The most important single central fact about a free market is that no exchange takes place unless both parties benefit.”
“Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.”
“History suggests that capitalism is a necessary condition for political freedom. Clearly it is not a sufficient condition.”
“The great virtue of a free market system is that it does not care what color people are; it does not care what their religion is; it only cares whether they can produce something you value.”
“Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon in the sense that it is and can be produced only by a more rapid increase in the quantity of money than in output.”
“One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.”
“If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years there'd be a shortage of sand.”
“Nothing is so permanent as a government program designed to be temporary.”
“Concentrated power is not rendered harmless by the good intentions of those who create it.”
Nobel Laureate Economist, Monetarist Scholar, and Public Intellectual
