This website uses cookies.

By clicking the "Accept" button or continuing to browse our site, you agree to first-party and session-only cookies being stored on your device to enhance site navigation and analyze site performance and traffic. For more information on our use of cookies, please see our Privacy Policy.

  1. Home
  2. Journals
  3. Journal of Economic Literature
  4. March 2009
  5. The Age of Milton Friedman

The Age of Milton Friedman

  • Andrei Shleifer
Journal of Economic Literature
vol. 47, no. 1, March 2009
(pp. 123-35)
Download Full Text PDF

Abstract

Between 1980 and 2005, as the world embraced free market policies, living standards rose sharply, while life expectancy, educational attainment, and democracy improved and absolute poverty declined. Is this a coincidence? A collection of essays edited by Balcerowicz and Fischer argues that indeed reliance on free market forces is key to economic growth. A book by Stiglitz and others disagrees. I review and compare the two arguments.

Citation

Shleifer, Andrei. 2009. "The Age of Milton Friedman." Journal of Economic Literature, 47 (1): 123-35. DOI: 10.1257/jel.47.1.123

JEL Classification

  • O10 Economic Development: General
  • O40 Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity: General
  • P16 Capitalist Systems: Political Economy