En efecto, incluso si 'Friedman el intelectual público' nunca hubiera existido, 'Friedman el economista científico' seguiría siendo honrado y respetado (aunque quizá no como celebridad de talla mundial), y su memoria perdurara por mucho tiempo en los anales de la ciencia económica. Gran parte de su celebridad derivaba de su actividad como intelectual público, un aspecto de su obra que se reflejaba mayormente en las columnas de opinión que escribió durante muchos años para la revista Newsweek, y en libros populares, tales como Capitalismo y libertad (1962) y el tremendamente exitoso Libertad de elegir (1980) -ambos escritos conjuntamente con su esposa, Rose, y el segundo basado en la serie televisiva del mismo título.Īunque ya era famoso cuando recibió el Premio Nobel de Economía, en 1976, ese galardón sin duda consolidó su status como figura pública y como analista de políticas públicas, y esto es lo que se ha enfatizado en los innumerables testimonios públicos y necrologías recientes.Įs bueno recordar, sin embargo, que su carrera también tuvo otros aspectos, y que estos otros aspectos son considerados por la mayoría de los economistas profesionales como mucho mas importantes que sus ocasionales incursiones en la arena política. Milton Friedman, quien falleció en la madrugada del 16 de noviembre de 2006, era mundialmente famoso como economista y como defensor de la economía de mercado libre. It is primarily this other aspect of his life and work that I wish to focus on in this essay.

Indeed, even if 'Friedman the public intellectual' had never existed, 'Friedman the economic scientist' would still be renowned and respected (though perhaps not as a bona fide world-class celebrity), and his memory will live long in the lore of economics. It is important to recall, however, that there was another aspect of his career, one which most professional economists (and probably Friedman himself) would regard as far more important than his incursions in the policy arena.

Though he was already well-known by the time he received the Nobel Prize in Economics, in 1976, both his stature as public figure and his effectiveness as policy advocate were greatly enhanced by that award, and this is what has been mostly stressed in the vast outpouring of obituaries and public testimonials prompted by his recent passing. Much of his celebrity derived from his role as public intellectual, an aspect of his work that was reflected largely in popular books, such as Capitalism and Freedom (1962) and the hugely successful Free to Choose (1980) -both co-authored with his wife, Rose (and the latter based on the television documentary of the same title)- and in the Newsweek opinion columns he wrote for many years. Milton Friedman, who died in the early morning of November 16, 2006, was a world-famous economist, and an ardent and effective advocate of the free market economy.

Milton and rose friedman free to choose