The Optimum Quantity of Money

Milton Friedman, more than any other individual, has reshaped the thinking of contemporary economists and economic policy-makers on monetary theory and policy. The book under review is a collection of his essays on the subject, and should be read by every serious student of monetary economics... It has been a delight to read or reread the essays in this volume. Friedman's important contributions to monetary economics could not be fully appreciated if the reader failed to take his warning seriously about accepting economic propositions without critical examination, be they propositions by Keynes or by Friedman.

--Gregory C. Chow, The Journal of Finance

Economists are much better at defining what should be done to maintain an equilibrium than at devising means of recovering it when it is lost. It is the former question, not the latter, on which Friedman's historical researches may well throw some light.

--J. R. Hicks, The Economic Journal

So pervasive is his influence that economists seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a discussion of Milton Friedman's writings... The style is literary; and the ideas are presented with only a bare minimum of mathematics. The subtleties and nuances are almost always recognized either in the text or in footnotes. For those reasons, no economist working in the field of monetary theory can afford to be unfamiliar with the writings of Milton Friedman... [H]is work is fruitful: it always is.

--Jerome L. Stein, Journal of Money, Credit and Banking

[W]hat Friedman and his associates have done best is to marshall an impressive amount of evidence to show that money is important. Their sustained efforts in this regard over the past 20 years have without doubt greatly altered Keynesian views about the role of money in economic activity... [T]his is an ingenious and interesting analysis.

--John G. Gurley, Journal of Economic Literature

Milton Friedman, more than any other individual, has reshaped the thinking of contemporary economists and economic policy-makers on monetary theory and policy. The book under review is a collection of his essays on the subject, and should be read by every serious student of monetary economics... It has been a delight to read or reread the essays in this volume. Friedman's important contributions to monetary economics could not be fully appreciated if the reader failed to take his warning seriously about accepting economic propositions without critical examination, be they propositions by Keynes or by Friedman.

--Gregory C. Chow, The Journal of Finance

Economists are much better at defining what should be done to maintain an equilibrium than at devising means of recovering it when it is lost. It is the former question, not the latter, on which Friedman's historical researches may well throw some light.

--J. R. Hicks, The Economic Journal

So pervasive is his influence that economists seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a discussion of Milton Friedman's writings... The style is literary; and the ideas are presented with only a bare minimum of mathematics. The subtleties and nuances are almost always recognized either in the text or in footnotes. For those reasons, no economist working in the field of monetary theory can afford to be unfamiliar with the writings of Milton Friedman... [H]is work is fruitful: it always is.

--Jerome L. Stein, Journal of Money, Credit and Banking

[W]hat Friedman and his associates have done best is to marshall an impressive amount of evidence to show that money is important. Their sustained efforts in this regard over the past 20 years have without doubt greatly altered Keynesian views about the role of money in economic activity... [T]his is an ingenious and interesting analysis.

--John G. Gurley, Journal of Economic Literature

-Milton Friedman, more than any other individual, has reshaped the thinking of contemporary economists and economic policy-makers on monetary theory and policy. The book under review is a collection of his essays on the subject, and should be read by every serious student of monetary economics... It has been a delight to read or reread the essays in this volume. Friedman's important contributions to monetary economics could not be fully appreciated if the reader failed to take his warning seriously about accepting economic propositions without critical examination, be they propositions by Keynes or by Friedman.-

--Gregory C. Chow, The Journal of Finance

-Economists are much better at defining what should be done to maintain an equilibrium than at devising means of recovering it when it is lost. It is the former question, not the latter, on which Friedman's historical researches may well throw some light.-

--J. R. Hicks, The Economic Journal

-So pervasive is his influence that economists seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a discussion of Milton Friedman's writings... The style is literary; and the ideas are presented with only a bare minimum of mathematics. The subtleties and nuances are almost always recognized either in the text or in footnotes. For those reasons, no economist working in the field of monetary theory can afford to be unfamiliar with the writings of Milton Friedman... [H]is work is fruitful: it always is.-

--Jerome L. Stein, Journal of Money, Credit and Banking

-[W]hat Friedman and his associates have done best is to marshall an impressive amount of evidence to show that -money is important.- Their sustained efforts in this regard over the past 20 years have without doubt greatly altered Keynesian views about the role of money in economic activity... [T]his is an ingenious and interesting analysis.-

--John G. Gurley, Journal of Economic Literature