Milton Friedman Research Paper

Words: 661
Pages: 3

Kristina Verbari
Mr. Loberto
CIA4U
1 October 2014
Milton Friedman

Milton Friedman was born in New York City in July 1912. When he was a year old, the family moved to Rahway, New Jersey, where Friedman's parents ran a dry-goods store. Although their financial position was precarious, and no member of the family had been to university before, it was decided early that Milton would attend college. He enjoyed school and showed a particular talent for mathematics. He earned a degree in mathematics from Rutgers University, graduating in 1932 during the very depths of the great Depression. Although scholarships covered his tuition costs, he worked throughout his student years to meet his living expenses. In 1976 he received the Nobel Peace Prize for Economics. Freedmen was cited for “his achievements in the field of consumption, analysis, monetary history and theory, and for his demonstration of the complexity of stabilization policy.”
…show more content…
In 1962, he published Capitalism and Freedom, ultimately his most famous book, partly as a response to the growing scope of the U.S. federal government under Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy. Through his book, he responded to Kennedy's inaugural address:
The free man will ask neither what his country can do for him, nor what he can do for his country. He will ask rather "What can I and my compatriots do through government" to help us discharge our individual responsibilities to achieve our several goals and purposes, and above all, to protect our freedom? And he will accompany this question with another: "How can we keep the government from becoming a Frankenstein that will destroy the very freedom we establish it to protect?" Freedom is a rare and delicate plant. Our minds tell us, and history confirms that the great threat to freedom is concentration of