Journal of Economic Literature
Book Reviews
2026-09-01
Anna Jacobson Schwartz of National Bureau of Economic Research reviews “Milton Friedman: A Biography” by Lanny Ebenstein,. The EconLit Abstract of the reviewed work begins “Traces the life of Milton Friedman and examines his continuing relevance to our political and economic circumstances. Discusses his early life; his undergraduate years; the University of Chicago and Columbia; Rose; World War II; the return to academe; the Department of Economics at the University of Chicago; “Positive Economics”; family; professorship; <I>A Theory of the Consumption Function; John Maynard Keynes; A Monetary History of the United States; the Chicago school of economics; Capitalism and Freedom; travel and Goldwater; colleagues; public intellectual and policy proposals; Richard Nixon and the Nobel Prize; Free to Choose; Ronald Reagan and international influence; Friedrich Hayek and the role of ideas; school vouchers and social issues; and the Friedman Prize. Bibliographical essay; index.”