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Born in New York City to a working-class family of Jewish Hungarian immigrants from Beregszász ( Berehove, today Ukraine), Friedman was educated at Rutgers University ( B.A.A Bachelor of Arts B. or A. is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for a course or program in the arts and/or sciences. Duration The BA generally lasts three years in the United Kingdom (except Scotland) and Australia or four years in North America,, 19321932 is the leap year starting on Friday. see link for calendar) Events January-February January 3 British arrest and intern Mohandas Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel January 8 In Britain the Archbishop of Canterbury forbids church remarriage of divorcees Jan) and at the University of ChicagoThe University of Chicago is a university located in Chicago, Illinois. Just over a century old, it includes departments and committees of: Physics, Economics, Music (theory), Sociology, Linguistics, Political Science, Social Thought, International Relati ( M.A., 1933Centuries: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s Years: 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 See also 1933 in aviation 1933 in film 1933 in literature 1933 in mu). After working for the federal government and for Columbia UniversityColumbia University officially known as Columbia University in the City of New York is a private institution of higher education. It is one of the world's foremost research universities and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1754 under a royal charter, he received a Ph.D. from that institution in 1946Events January January 4 Theodore Schurch becomes the last person to be executed for offences committed under the Treachery Act of 1940 January 7 Allied recognize Austrian republic with 1937 borders the country is divided into four occupation zones Januar. He then served as Professor of Economics at the University of ChicagoThe University of Chicago is a university located in Chicago, Illinois. Just over a century old, it includes departments and committees of: Physics, Economics, Music (theory), Sociology, Linguistics, Political Science, Social Thought, International Relati from 1946 to 1976, where he contributed significantly to the intellectual tradition of the so-called Chicago school of economics. Since 1977, Friedman has been affiliated with the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.
Friedman can be classified as a monetarist and he is widely regarded as the leading proponent of that economic school of thought. He maintains that there is a close and stable link between inflation and the money supply, rejects the use of fiscal policy as a tool of demand management and holds that the government's role in the management of the economy should be severely restricted. Friedman wrote a veritable tome on the subject of the Great Depression which he called the Great Contraction, attributing it to the failure of The Federal Reserve. He argued for the cessation of intervention in exchange markets, thereby spawning an enormous literature on the subject, as well as the practice of freely floating exchange rates.
He has also supported various libertarian policies such as decriminalization of drugs and prostitution. In addition, he headed the Reagan commitee that researched the possibility of a move towards a paid/volunteer armed force, and played a role in the abolition of the draft that took place in the 1970s in the U.S.
Friedman visited Chile in 1975 during the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. Invited by a private foundation, he gave a series of lectures on economics. Several professors from the University of Chicago became advisors to the Chilean government and several Ph.D. graduates from the same university -- known as "the Chicago boys" -- served in Chilean ministries. Despite having no direct personal contact with Pinochet's government, Friedman was accused of supporting a regime whose policies included torture and the killing of political opponents. A number of protesters demonstrated against Friedman during the 1976 Nobel Prize ceremony. (See: Miracle of Chile)
Critics have remarked that Chile's dictatorship used its power to implement free-market policies, thus contradicting the relationship that Friedman claims exists between open markets and political freedom. Friedman defends his role in Chile on the grounds that the move towards open market policies by the dictatorship was laudable, and that, in his view, it contributed to the softening of Pinochet's rule and to its eventual replacement by a democratic government in 1990. He also stresses that the lectures he gave in Chile in 1975 were the same lectures he later gave without incident in China and other Communist states.
Friedman served as a member of U.S. President Ronald Reagan's Economic Policy Advisory Board in 1981. In 1988 he received both the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the National Medal of Science.
In recent years Friedman has devoted much of his effort to promoting school vouchers that can be used to pay for tuition at both private and public schools, saying, "What is needed in America is a voucher of substantial size available to all students, and free of excessive regulations."
Milton Friedman's son, David Friedman, has carried on his tradition of arguing in favor of free markets. As an anarcho-capitalist, however, the younger Friedman holds considerably more radical views than his father.