Happy Birthday, Milton Friedman
Tomorrow (31 July) was Milton Friedman’s birthday. I remember him as a diminutive American economist with a wide grin that (like his optimism and faith in human freedom) never left him. And his ideas changed the direction of civilisation.
I first came across him as a student at St Andrews. Capitalism and Freedom was an eye-opener. The combination of rigorous economic argument, moral clarity and cheerful combativeness inspired me, and helped shape my future career.
What set Friedman apart from other public intellectuals was his combination of professional depth with a gift for plain speech. His was able to show how inflation is a monetary phenomenon and systematically undermined the Keynesian orthodoxy, with its confidence in government intervention and economic 'fine-tuning'. He used evidence to slice through slogans, and in shifted the terms of public debate.
Friedman's ability to communicate complex ideas was as important as his technical contributions. Through his Newsweek columns and the television series Free to Choose, he made the case for free markets, open trade, sound money and limited government intelligible to millions. He showed, with practical examples, how these things improve lives, especially for the poor.
Raised in Brooklyn by immigrant parents who embodied the ideal of self-improvement, Friedman could see for himself that self-help and voluntary cooperation outperformed central direction. Always motivated by ideas, he never sought public office, and was never happier than when debating important issues with students. But his arguments did make a real difference to world events: Free to Choose, for example, directly influenced Estonia’s reforms; similar stories can be told across Eastern Europe, Asia and Latin America (as with Argentina today).
Alongside his huge command of economic principles stood a moral conviction: freedom is valuable in itself—the freedom to decide how to live, work, educate one’s children and spend one’s money. He saw that even well-intentioned government power produces bad effects. But the work of changing ideas, and through them, events, kept him consistent and cheerful.
And so he challenged the Keynesian presumption of economic “management.” He advanced instead free markets, free trade, school choice, deregulation and more. Free to Choose carried this thinking to billions and permanently altered the climate of opinion—and eventually, policy.
Would he still be optimistic today? Certainly, he would welcome the dramatic fall in extreme poverty, the spread of market economies across Eastern Europe, Asia and Latin America, and the taming of the great inflation of the 1970s and 1980s. He would remain optimistic, of course; but he would also be concerned by rising government spending and debt, thickening regulation, spreading protectionism, and the assumption that government is the first solution to every problem.
He might be disappointed that some countries that flirted with markets have turned back. But then, the battle of ideas is never finally won; and he would relish making it as many times, and to as many people, as needed. “Governments don’t learn,” he explained “people learn.”
Are his ideas still relevant in 2026? Yes, more than ever. Monetary excess, oversized government, protectionism in trade and commerce and labour markets, stubborn inflation, low productivity and public debt remain with us. But while in his lifetime, Friedman stood out as an almost unique public intellectual, today we have many more people who, perhaps inspired by his example, can explain simply and persuasively why personal and economic freedom still matters. Like him, I remain an optimist.
Eamonn Butler