In this Uncommon Knowledge classic from February 10, 1999, Milton Friedman, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economic Science in 1976 and a senior research fellow at the Hoover Institution from 1977 to 2006, discusses, with Hoover research fellow Peter Robinson, what defines a libertarian and how Friedman balances the libertarians' desire for a small, less intrusive government with environmental, public safety, food and drug administration, and other issues.
Bio
Milton Friedman
Milton Friedman was a senior research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and a professor emeritus of economics at the University of Chicago, where he taught from 1946-1976. Dr. Friedman passed away on Nov. 16, 2006.
Dr. Friedman received the Nobel Memorial Prize for Economic Science in 1976, and the National Medal of Science and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1988. He served as an unofficial adviser to presidential candidate Barry Goldwater and Presidents Nixon and Reagan. He is the author of numerous books, including Two Lucky People (with Rose Friedman).
Peter Robinson
Peter M. Robinson is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, where he writes about business and politics, edits the Hoover Institution's quarterly journal, the Hoover Digest, and hosts Hoover's television program, "Uncommon Knowledge."
Robinson is also the author of three books: How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life; It's My Party: A Republican's Messy Love Affair with the GOP; and the best-selling business book Snapshots from Hell: The Making of an MBA.
(born July 31, 1912, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.died Nov. 16, 2006, San Francisco, Calif.) U.S. economist. Friedman studied at Rutgers and Columbia before joining the faculty of the University of Chicago in 1946. There he became the leading U.S. advocate of monetarism. He oversaw the economic transition in Chile after the overthrow of Salvador Allende. In the 1980s his ideas were taken up by Pres. Ronald Reagan and Britain's Margaret Thatcher. His many books include A Theory of the Consumption Function (1957) and Capitalism and Freedom (1962), both with his wife, Rose Friedman, and A Monetary History of the United States, 18671960 (1963) and Monetary Trends of the United States and the United Kingdom (1981), with economist Anna Schwartz. He received the Nobel Prize in 1976.