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What were the contributions of the economist Milton Friedman?

Milton Friedman was the most famous economist in this country. He won the nobel memorial prize for his work in 1976. He wrote a lot on economic policy. He argued against the Keynesians view of the economy, while promoting his strict  "money supply growth" rule. Friedman believed that unemployment and GNP could be regulated by tight rules of money and supply. He thought that by forcing the Federal Reserve Board to up the money supply as the GNP increased, inflation would be eliminated. He wrote many popular books promoting laissez-faire policies. He wrote a weekly column in Newsweek for many years up until 1983. He died on Nov 16th 2006.

Milton Friedman (1912-2006) was perhaps the most eminent economist in the period when the world entered the third millennium. He was also a statistician, an intellectual and a political commentator.

He led the Monetarist incarnation of the Chicago School against the Keynesian economics in 1960's and 1970's. His contributions include the "permanent Income Hypothesis", development of concepts of risk-aversion and risk-proclivity, development of theory of the firm, and propositions for a positivist methodology in economics.

Friedman believed that government measures, taken form time to time, to control economy based on Keynesian economic theories should be replaced by firmer rules including money supply growth rule suggested by him.

Milton Friedman is a powerful voice in that his economic beliefs gave much to the American political dialogue in the last forty years.  Arising out of the Great Society and expanded role of government in the late 1960s, there began a resurgence into the idea of limited government and the role of diminished need for government intervention.  Friedman once argued that corruption is government interference in market economies.  In revivifying the traditionalist market approach to economy, he became a very strong voice in American economic thought.  The interesting aspect about this is that Friedman's approach became appropriate by the rise of the Republican party in the 1980s.  His non- interventionist approach became of critical importance during the Regan Era, when individuals accepted the idea that government is the problem, not the solution, and that government does not have a monopoly on providing answers.  This "least government is best government" approach might have been a political misapplication of Friedman's philosophy, but his economic thought began to hold social and political applications in the hands of many during the 1980s.  This is still present today, as there is a belief amongst many members of the American body politic that the expanded role of government stifles individual growth, business development, and the overall supposed freedom that is an intrinsic part to America.

The previous three answers all make it very clear that Friedman was a very PROMINENT economist and a very INFLUENTIAL one.  And he must surely have been very smart (not least because he taught at my alma mater -- no, I never met him).

But part of this question is, I imagine -- was he right?  I am including this answer only because the question of whether he was right brings up a fundamental issue -- the problem of knowing which economist is right.

Friedman argued that if you just keep the money supply rising at a constant rate, all will be well.  There would then be no reason for the Fed to vary interest rates, etc.  But we don't know if he's right because that's never been tried.

In macroeconomics, especially, you can't do experiments to find out who's right.  And you can't tell if something that was done had the impact it was supposed to.  For example: who's at fault for the current recession?  Economists disagree.

So, my point simply is that I want to remind you that it's not possible to know for certain that Friedman was right.