Capitalism and Freedom

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University of Chicago Press, 1962 - Business & Economics - 202 pages
In the classic bestseller, Capitalism and Freedom, Milton Friedman presents his view of the proper role of competitive capitalism—the organization of economic activity through private enterprise operating in a free market—as both a device for achieving economic freedom and a necessary condition for political freedom. Beginning with a discussion of principles of a liberal society, Friedman applies them to such constantly pressing problems as monetary policy, discrimination, education, income distribution, welfare, and poverty.

"Milton Friedman is one of the nation's outstanding economists, distinguished for remarkable analytical powers and technical virtuosity. He is unfailingly enlightening, independent, courageous, penetrating, and above all, stimulating."-Henry Hazlitt, Newsweek

"It is a rare professor who greatly alters the thinking of his professional colleagues. It's an even rarer one who helps transform the world. Friedman has done both."-Stephen Chapman, Chicago Tribune

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About the author (1962)

An influential leader in the field of economics, Milton Friedman had his humble beginnings in New York City, where he was born in 1912 to poor immigrants. Friedman was educated at Rutgers University. He went on to the University of Chicago to earn his A.M., and to Columbia University, where in 1946 he received his Ph.D. That same year he became professor of economics at the University of Chicago and remained there for 30 years. He was also on the research staff at the National Bureau of Economic Research from 1937-1981. Friedman's greatest work is considered to be A Theory of the Consumption Function, published in 1957. Other books include A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960, and The Optimum Quantity of Money and Other Essays. Friedman was awarded the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1976.