Milton Friedman, one of the leading economists of the second half of the 20th century, popularized many economic ideas that are still important today, most notably free market capitalism and monetarism.
Friedman’s economic theories evolved into what is known as monetarism, which refuted important parts of Keynesian economics, the school of thought that dominated the first half of the 20th century.
Friedman’s defense of monetarism was so effective that he turned the direction of economic thought from Keynesian fiscal policy to a monetary policy focused on controlling the money supply to curb inflation.
During his academic career, Friedman has written influential articles on modern economics and published groundbreaking books that have changed the way economics is taught.
An economist is an expert who studies the relationship between a society’s resources and its production or output, using a number of different indicators to predict future trends.
An absolute advantage is when a manufacturer can provide a greater quantity of a product or service for the same price or the same quantity at a lower price than its competitors.
Animal spirits come from the Latin spiritus animalis: “breath that awakens the human mind.” It was introduced by the British economist John Maynard Keynes in 1936.
Autarky refers to a state of self-sufficiency and is commonly used to describe countries or economies that seek to reduce their dependence on international trade.
Automatic Stabilizers is a permanent government policy that automatically adjusts tax rates and transfers payments in a way that stabilizes income, consumption, and business spending over the business cycle.
The balance of trade (BOT) is the difference between the value of a country’s imports and exports over a given period and is the largest component of a country’s balance of payments (BOP).
“Best Effort” is a legal term that represents the obligation of a party to a contract to take all possible steps to fulfill the terms of the agreement.