Milton Friedman Biography

Born: July 31, 1912 (Brooklyn, NY)
Died: November 16, 2006 (San Francisco, CA)

Go to: Degrees | Appointments | Activities | Awards and Honors

Milton Friedman, recipient of the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize for Economic Sciences, was a senior research fellow at the Hoover Institution from 1977 to 2006. He was also the Paul Snowden Russell Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Chicago, where he taught from 1946 to 1976, and a member of the research staff of the National Bureau of Economic Research from 1937 to 1981.

He was widely regarded as the leader of the Chicago School of monetary economics, which stresses the importance of the quantity of money as an instrument of government policy and as a determinant of business cycles and inflation.

Milton Friedman was born July 31, 1912, in Brooklyn, New York, the son of immigrant parents from the present-day Ukraine. The family relocated to Rahway, New Jersey, when Milton was thirteen months old. He graduated from Rahway High School in 1928 and began his undergraduate education at Rutgers University. While attending graduate school at the University of Chicago in 1932, Milton met Rose Director; the two were married six years later. Their marriage lasted sixty-eight years until Milton's death in 2006. Milton earned his M.A. in economics in 1933 and went on to get a Ph.D. in 1946 from Columbia University.

During his scholarly career, Milton published many books and articles, most notably A Theory of the Consumption Function, The Optimum Quantity of Money and Other Essays, and (with A. J. Schwartz) A Monetary History of the United States, Monetary Statistics of the United States, and Monetary Trends in the United States and the United Kingdom.

In addition to his scientific work, Milton wrote extensively on public policy, always with an emphasis on the preservation and extension of individual freedom. His most important books in this field are (with Rose D. Friedman) Capitalism and Freedom (University of Chicago Press, 1962); Bright Promises, Dismal Performance (Thomas Horton and Daughters, 1983), which consists mostly of reprints of columns he wrote for Newsweek from 1966 to 1983; (with Rose D. Friedman) Free to Choose (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1980), which complements a ten-part television series of the same name shown over the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) network in early 1980; and (with Rose D. Friedman) Tyranny of the Status Quo (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1984), which complements a three-part television series of the same name, shown over PBS in early 1984.

Two Lucky People, his and Rose D. Friedman's memoirs, was published in 1998 by the University of Chicago Press.

Milton Friedman was also active in public affairs, serving as an informal economic adviser to Senator Barry Goldwater in his unsuccessful campaign for the presidency in 1964, to Richard Nixon in his successful 1968 campaign, to President Nixon subsequently, and to Ronald Reagan in his 1980 campaign. He was a member of the President's Commission on an All-Volunteer Armed Force and the President's Commission on White House Fellows. He was also a member of President Ronald Reagan's Economic Policy Advisory Board, a group of experts from outside the government named in 1981 by President Reagan.

Milton was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1988 and received the National Medal of Science the same year.

In 1996, Milton and Rose founded the Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation, which to this day promotes freedom of choice in education and the use of school vouchers.

Milton Friedman passed away on November 16, 2006. (Link to obituary.)

Degrees

B.A., Rutgers University, 1932

M.A., University of Chicago, 1933

Ph.D., Columbia University, 1946

Honorary Degrees

LL.D., St. Paul's University (Tokyo, Japan), 1963

LL.D., Kalamazoo College, 1968

LL.D., Rutgers University, 1968

L.H.D., Rockford College, 1969

LL.D., Lehigh University, 1969

D.Sc., University of Rochester, 1971

Litt.D., Bethany College, 1971

LL.D., Loyola University (Chicago), 1971

L.H.D., Roosevelt University, 1975

LL.D., University of New Hampshire, 1975

(Hon.) PhD., The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1977

D.C.S., Francisco Marroquin University (Guatemala), 1978

LL.D., Harvard University, 1979

LL.D., Brigham Young University, 1980

LL.D., Dartmouth College, 1980

L.H.D., Hebrew Union College (Los Angeles), 1981

LL.D., Gonzaga University, 1981

L.H.D., Jacksonville University, 1993

H.C.D., Economics University of Prague, 1997

Academic Appointments

Part-time Lecturer, Columbia University, 1937-40

Visiting Professor of Economics, University of Wisconsin, 1940-41

Associate Professor of Economics and Business Administration, University of Minnesota, 1945-46

University of Chicago: Associate Professor of Economics, 1946-48; Professor of Economics, 1948-63; Paul Snowden Russell Distinguished Service Professor of Economics, 1963-82; Paul Snowden Russell Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Economics

Visiting Fulbright Lecturer, Cambridge University, 1953-54

Wesley Clair Mitchell Visiting Research Professor, Columbia University, 1964-65

Visiting Professor, UCLA, Winter Quarter, 1967

Visiting Professor, University of Hawaii, Winter Quarter, 1972

Research Positions

Research Assistant, Social Science Research Committee, University of Chicago, 1934-35

Associate Economist, National Resources Committee, Washington, DC 1935-37

Member of Research Staff, National Bureau of Economic Research, New York, 1937-45 (on leave 1940-45), 1948-81

Principal Economist, Division of Tax Research, US Department of the Treasury, 1941-43

Associate Director, Statistical Research Group, Division of War Research, Columbia University, 1943-45

Visiting Scholar, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, January-March 1977

Senior Research Fellow, Hoover Institution (Stanford University)

Other Positions

Consultant, Economic Co-operation Administration (Paris), Fall 1950

Consultant, International Co-operation Administration (India), Fall 1955

Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (Stanford, California), 1957-58

Ford Faculty Research Fellow (from the University of Chicago), 1962-63

Columnist and Contributing Editor, Newsweek, September 1966-June 1984

Professional Societies

Member, American Economic Association (Board of Editors, American Economic Review, 1951-53; Executive Committee, 1955-57; President, 1967)

Member, Mont Pelerin Society (American Secretary, 1957-62; Member of Council, 1962-65; Vice President, 1967-70; President, 1970-72; Vice President, 1972,80)

Member, Philadelphia Society (Board of Trustees, 1965-67, 1970-72, 1976-78)

Member, Royal Economic Society

Member, Western Economic Association (Vice President, 1982-83; President-elect, 1983-84; President, 1984-85)

Elected Societies

Fellow, American Statistical Association

Fellow, Econometric Society (Board of Editors, Econometrica, 1957-69)

Fellow, Institute of MathematicalStatistics

Member, American Philosophical Society, 1957-2006

Associate Member, Belgian Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts, 1971-2006

Member, National Academy of Sciences, 1973-2006

Foreign Member, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (Italy), 1978-2006

Fellow, Jewish Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1986-2006

Fellow, National Association of Business Economists, 1989-2006

Active Member, Academia Scientiarum et Artium Eurpaea (European Academy of Sciences and Arts), 1992

Other Activities

Council of Academic Advisers, American Enterprise Institute, 1956-79

Member, Board of Directors, Aldine Publishing Company, 1961-76

Policy-holder Elected Trustees, CREF, 1964-68

Advisory Board, Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking, 1968-94

Member, President's Commission on an All-Volunteer Armed Force, 1969-70

Member, President's Commission on White House Fellows, 1971-73

Member, Advisory Committee on Monetary Statistics, Federal Reserve System, 1974

Member, President's Economic Policy Advisory Board, 1981-88

Honorary Adviser, Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies of the Bank of Japan, October 1982-86

Presenter of a ten-part TV series on PBS “Free to Choose,” January-March 1980; an updated tenth anniversary edition of “Free to Choose”, consisting of five parts, was aired on CNBC in 1991.

Presenter of three half hour TV programs, “Tyranny of the Status Quo” on PBS in March and April 1984

Founding Member, National Coalition for Drug Policy Change, 1993-2006

Chairman, Board of Directors, Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation, 1996-2006

Member, Advisory Board, California Parents for Educational Choice, 1999-2006

Awards and Honors

John Bates Clark medalist (American Economic Association), 1951

Chicagoan of the Year (Chicago Press Club), 1972

Educator of the Year (Chicago Jewish United Fund), 1973

Nobel Prize for Economic Science, 1976

Scopus Award (American Friends of the Hebrew University), 1977

Private Enterprise Exemplar Medal (Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge), 1978

Valley Forge Honor Certificate for speech on “The Future of Capitalism” (Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge), 1978

George Washington Honor Medal (Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge), 1978 and 1980

Gold Medal (National Institute of Social Sciences, New York), 1978

Statesman of the Year Award (Sales & Marketing Executives International), 1981

Ohio State Award for “Free to Choose” TV Series, 1981

New Perspectives Award for “Free to Choose” TV Series (Touche Ross & Co.), 1981

A 1980 Tuck Media Awards for Economic Understanding, for “Free to Choose” TV Series (Amos Tuck School of Business Administration, Dartmouth College), 1981

Grand Cordon of the First Class Order of the Sacred Treasure (Japanese Government), 1986

National Medal of Science, 1988

Presidential Medal of Science, 1988

Earle M. Combs, Jr. Award (Chicago Board of Trade Educational Research Foundation), 1991

Institution of World Capitalism Prize (Jacksonville University), 1993

Goldwater Award (Goldwater Institute), 1997

Robert Maynard Hutchins History Maker Award for Distinction in Education (Chicago Historical Society), 1997

Source Award for Lifetime Achievement (The Primary Source, Tufts University), 1997

Templeton Honor Rolls Lifetime Achievement Award, 1997

James U. Blanchard III Freedom Award, with Rose D. Friedman (Jefferson Financial), 2001

Abraham Lincoln Award (American Hungarian Foundation), 2002

Claremont Institute's 2002 Statesmanship Award