Mathematical economics is compared and contrasted with mathematical engineering. Engineers use mathematics where it is practical and cost-effective, sometimes cutting corners, and leaving theorems and derivations to professional mathematicians. In contrast, papers by mathematical economists are...

Rose Friedman (née Director), the Chicago-trained economist, was a very important contributor to Milton Friedman’s scholarly output, popular writings, and television series. His remarkable role in society was to a significant extent a joint role from which she cannot be separated.

This is a reprint of a brief essay originally published in 1951. Hayek looks back on the age of liberalism and its collapse. During the generations of growing darkness, there were a few figures who bridged the age of liberalism and the postwar revival of its ideas and values. Hayek identifies...

A sample of 299 U.S. economics professors responded to our 2010 survey. This paper reports on their views on 17 policy issues. We relate attitude toward liberalization to political-party voting. Abortion and occupational licensing are among the questions novel to the survey. We also look at...

In Dec. 2008/Jan. 2009 I conducted a web-based survey of economists in my native country of the Czech Republic, and received 182 responses (a response rate of over 25 percent). The survey included 21 policy questions, each anchored in the status quo and soliciting judgment on whether policy...

Much of federal government policy-making and -implementing is economic in matter and repercussion. But most policy decisions are made ultimately by non-economists. There are many economists in government, some of them seasoned government careerists and some on leave from universities. But what...

One answer is that Milton Friedman possessed a rare combination of attributes that enabled him to communicate as easily with a mass audience as with his professional peers. He also emerged on the public stage at a time when his message of limited government had unusual resonance. Developments in...

The costs of running a regression are falling rapidly, perhaps by 10-15 percent per year. Considerations of costs and benefits suggest that this will cause an increase in the mining ratio, that is, the ratio of the number of regressions made to the number published. An individual researcher’s...

This essay responds to the question, “Why is there no Milton Friedman today?” In doing so, it briefly examines several aspects of Friedman’s professional life that contributed to his success in the academic, policy, and public realms as well as the influence of the social and political...

This article addresses two questions: Are there fewer economist public intellectuals today than previously, and if so, why? and: Are there fewer economists who support free markets today, and if so, why? It answers yes to the first question, suggesting that the selection process for graduate...