Milton Friedman

by Alan Ebenstein

Book Overview

The first biography of one of the twentieth century's greatest economic thinkers, Milton Friedman.

Born the son of immigrant parents, Milton Friedman went on to become a major figure during the resurgence of American conservatism. As an advisor to the Reagan administration and a widely read columnist, he played a vital role in shaping government policy and public opinion while he made headlines for his controversial views...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0230604099
• ISBN13: 9780230604094
• Release Date: January 2009
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.7" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

Overall good. Some minor problems.

This was not only a biography of Milton Friedman, but also a synopsis of many of his ideas. Reading books like this is always difficult because you can never keep track of all the names and places that are documented, but only come away with a general sense of what the subject did in his life. This book was no different to many others biographies that I have read. Good points: 1. This book had a very nice synopsis of what happened during the Great Depression. MF's "A Monetary History of the United States" is, of course, the definitive work on that event, but in the event that one wants the Reader's Digest version, this book does that very well. 2. A decent synopsis of some of the fundamental differences between Keynesian economists and Monetarists was also included. It could have been a bit better, but it is good enough to be able to talk intelligently. At least we understood clearly the difference between Keynesians (Paul Krugman) and "supply siders" (Friedman, other conservative economists). 3. The author gives ample space to state the case for empirical verification of different Economic ideas, and demonstrated that there was a point before which people exhaustively tested their theories (rather than just putting together enough cute-sounding words and calling it "finished" from that point). It does seem that the author went overboard on stating this, but perhaps that was intentional. 4. Ebenstein clarifies the "Chile Scandal" surrounding Friedman. Many authors have talked up Friedman's influence on the events in Chile and have created a role for him that did not exist in those events. It turns out that Friedman did not engineer any government takeovers or act in any capacity as adviser other than in a very limited capacity. Bad points: 1. There was not one single photo in this book about the many people to whom it referred. They were not essential, but might have been nice just the same. 2. I might like to have seen a time-line of MF's life. There were so many names and dates that it just became difficult to keep track of after the first 3rd of the book. A time-line would have served as a reminder or recapitulation. 3. The author disclosed that Friedman himself read/ edited many of the chapters. This arrangement could have led to any number of things. A) That MF would only cooperate if he was given final control over the contents of the books; B) That the author was a bit more fawning than needed in order to get MF's cooperation; C) That critiques of MF's methodology/ conclusions was muffled, and that there might have been some things that needed to be brought to the fore. 4. This point bears repeating: That the book just appeared a bit too fawning and didn't give a consideration to any criticism of MF that may have needed to be rebutted at length. Later the author did very briefly mention some disagreements of other economists with Friedman, but did not get into them at length. (Perhaps this would have required a graph.) 5. The pr

Great insight into the life of a great man

A great read into the life of this fascinating man who was one of the most influential thinkers of the twentieth century. It is tough to understate Friedman's influence, inside and out of economics: school vouchers, voluntary army, floating currencies, monetarist view of inflation, the death of Keynisianism. The book is also an excellent read for those interested in the history of economic thought and especially of the 'Chicago School'. Last but not least, the author gets the economics right, which is a rare feature in a book that delves into economics. That alone is worth four stars.

A good soul and even a better mind were complements

I recommend "Milton Friedman: A Biography" to all readers, especially to young people who are looking for role models in economics and life in general. Many an economist found something, agreeable to them or not, that improved their academic lives at least just because they knew it, even if they did not know it well. Before Friedman free lunches were possible after all because economics was operating inside its production possibilities frontier (PPF). By pushing economics onto its PPF Friedman made free lunches disappear; the good thing is that the public good in the form of knowledge that Friedman's research program produced is so huge that economics shall have plenty of leftovers to chew on for some time to come. The prospective economist is better off even if all he/she reads of Friedman is "The Monetary History of the United States" (with Anna Jacobson Schwartz) and "The Methodology of Positive Economics". As Friedman points out in The Methodology of Economics "the process [of constructing hypotheses] must be discussed in psychological, not logical, categories; studied in autobiographies, not treatises on scientific method; and promoted by maxim and example, not syllogism or theorem" (p. 43). Thus, between the two books one learns how to identify problems and how to go about solving them. This biography is a valuable addition. The evidence of Friedman's contributions to the general public is not hard to find and document. For example, sensible deregulation led to cheaper airplane tickets, which induced more flights to more places. The efficacy of volunteer armed forces as a component of an effective national defense is now too commonsensical to restate here. Perhaps Arthur Schopenhauer was correct after all that "All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." What is very interesting about this book - Milton Friedman: A biography - are insights about the person behind the public good many people around the world come to know just as Friedman. Behind that person were the individual, family, proximate cause, and initial conditions all of which made possible the growth of ideas we associate with Professor Friedman. In the world of Friedmans ideas, both as public and private, are anchored in individual freedom and choice, which only a capitalist nature nurtures. That one individual could have done so much so long (9 decades) is worth volumes in itself; that the intellectual laborer remained sane, rather than vane, about his accomplishments and the fame they conferred is another remarkable quality, and an interesting part of Mr. Ebenstein's book. To say Friedman made a significant scholarly contribution to economics is a positive (testable) statement. If even only half of what Lanny Ebenstein writes about Friedman the person is true, then the author/philosopher Jean Paul was surely incorrect in his assertion that " Fine minds are seldom fine souls".

A Good Read

I approached this book with both a sense of excitement and apprehension; excitement because of the subject,and apprehension having been disappointed by Ebenstein's previous works on Hayek. However, given the constraints of dealing at great length about every aspect of the life and works of Friedman in such a short work, this volume is very readable and provides an acceptable summary of the great man until someone provides a thoroughly researched and comprehensive work on Friedman, similar to Skidelsky on Keynes. I finished the book in almost one sitting so it was gripping ...

A terrific reading!

It was an enjoyable enternainment. It was a terrific and pleasure reading. Easy and very informative.