In this essay reprinted from Social Forces 1926, Glenn E. Hoover laments the state of economic science. He suggests that because important political-economy decisions do not naturally fall to individuals with better knowledge and stronger motivation to make the decisions right, but rather 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...

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...

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...

Why is there no Milton Friedman today? The new structure of things—or lack of structure—makes it hard for someone to emerge as a focal representative of classical liberalism. But every day, innumerable souls breathe new vitality into the cogent perspective that Friedman and others gave to...

That there is no Milton Friedman today is not a mystery; the mystery is how Milton Friedman could have been. The facts of Friedman’s biography make him unique among twentieth-century public figures. He had extensive knowledge and expertise in mathematics and statistics. Yet he became a critic...

The presence of iconic superstars declines in many fields of endeavor, and economics is no exception to those principles. As for political orientation, those raised up to relative prominence today fit the spirit of the times.

Milton Friedman combined the roles of economic analyst, advocate of specific public policies, and passionate public intellectual advocating classic liberalism, though largely on moral and political rather than economic grounds. Immensely influential in his lifetime, his star has faded in recent...