Nobel Laureate economist and Rutgers alumnus Milton Friedman died yesterday in his San Francisco home at the age of 94.
Friedman, an economist widely regarded as one of the 20th century's most, had repercussions across the economic world. But Hugh Rockoff, an economics professor at the University, knew the class of 1932 graduate personally.
"The death of Milton Friedman was a great loss for me personally, and, I believe, for the world at large," Rockoff said. "He was truly one of greatest economists - if not the greatest - of the 20th century."
Friedman was an advocate of laissez-faire capitalism, and won the Nobel Prize for achievements in monetary history and consumption analysis. His book "Capitalism and Freedom" advocated minimal government, and his columns appeared in Newsweek.
Students last year advocated at the president's annual address that a building be named after Friedman on the College Avenue campus.
Rockoff said in an e-mail that he met Friedman as an undergraduate at Earlham College in Richmond, Ind. Friedman was the first visiting scholar he met who was willing to take part in a college "bull session," Rockoff said - which entailed sitting cross-legged on the floor and arguing with students about the things that concerned them most.
Rockoff then did his graduate work at the University of Chicago and took several of Friedman's courses. Rockoff remained in contact with Friedman after having earned a degree from the University of Chicago. Rockoff said he remembered Friedman as "remarkably generous with his time."
Rockoff said Friedman devised numerous controversial ideas that transcended the technical world of economics.
"It would be impossible to list all of Milton's influential ideas," Rockoff said.
Friedman believed flexible exchange rates are better than fixed exchange rates, Rockoff said. He also espoused the notion that a volunteer army is better than one that culls soldiers through a draft.
Among the ideas that have not been adopted on a wide scale is the argument that welfare and social security should be replaced with a negative income tax, and that marijuana and other drugs should be legalized, Rockoff said.
One of Friedman's ideas that has been adopted to some degree is the argument that schools should be funded by vouchers students can use to attend private schools.
Gordon St. Angelo - president and chief executive officer of the Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation - spoke of Friedman yesterday in a prepared statement.
"America has lost a true visionary and advocate for human freedom," Angelo said.
"[Friedman's] writings and ideas have transformed the minds of U.S. presidents, world leaders, entrepreneurs and freshmen economic majors alike," he continued in the statement.
The outpouring of statements of colleagues and those impacted by Friedman was tremendous. A broad range of economists, scholars, business people and politicians all lauded Friedman.
"Through a long life and distinguished career, Milton Friedman held fast to the principle that men and women should be free," said U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paul in a prepared statement. "He believed that freedom would unleash prosperity, and he was right. His pioneering ideas about the nexus between economic and political freedom paved the way for prosperity and financial vitality in economies around the world."
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