” Friedman, indeed, is one of the few scholars whose receipt of the Nobel Prize in Economics – which he received in 1976 – did at least as much to bestow prestige on that award as that award did to bestow prestige on him. (The first Nobel
Prize in Economics wasn’t awarded until 1969.)
Friedman’s stupendous scholarly achievements alone justify commemoration of the centenary
of his birth. But at least as important as Friedman’s scholarship was his lucid and energetic public advocacy of limited government and free
markets. He explained with unmatched clarity how a modern economy’s complexities,nuances, and dynamism almost always thwart even the best-intentioned efforts by government officials to intervene into markets. “
