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A Monetary History of the United States 1867-1960

milton friedman anna jacobson schwartz

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Writing in the June 1965 issue of theEconomic Journal, Harry G. Johnson begins with a sentence seemingly calibrated to the scale of the book he set himself to review: The long-awaited monetary history of the United States by Friedman and Schwartz is in every sense of the term a monumental scholarly achievement--monumental in its sheer bulk, monumental in the definitiveness of its treatment of innumerable issues, large and small . . . monumental, above all, in the theoretical and statistical effort and ingenuity that have been brought to bear on the solution of complex and subtle economic issues.



Friedman and Schwartz marshaled massive historical data and sharp analytics to support the claim that monetary policy--steady control of the money supply--matters profoundly in the management of the nation's economy, especially in navigating serious economic fluctuations. In their influential chapter 7, The Great Contraction--which Princeton published in 1965 as a separate paperback--they address the central economic event of the century, the Depression. According to Hugh Rockoff, writing in January 1965: If Great Depressions could be prevented through timely actions by the monetary authority (or by a monetary rule), as Friedman and Schwartz had contended, then the case for market economies was measurably stronger.

Milton Friedman won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1976 for work related to A Monetary History as well as to his other Princeton University Press book, A Theory of the Consumption Function (1957).

888 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,1963

This edition

Format
888 pages, Paperback
Published
November 1, 1971 by Princeton University Press
ISBN
9780691003542
ASIN
0691003548
Language
English

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About the author

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milton friedman

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Milton Friedman was an American Nobel Laureate economist and public intellectual. He made major contributions to the fields of economics and statistics. In 1976, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics for his achievements in the fields of consumption analysis, monetary history and theory, and for his demonstration of the complexity of stabilization policy. He was an advocate of economic freedom.

According to The Economist, Friedman "was the most influential economist of the second half of the 20th century...possibly of all of it". Former Federal Reserve Board chairman Alan Greenspan stated, "There are very few people over the generations who have ideas that are sufficiently original to materially alter the direction of civilization. Milton is one of those very few people."

Source: Wikipedia

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Community Reviews

Rating(4.3 / 5.0, 25 votes)
5 stars
11(44%)
4 stars
10(40%)
3 stars
4(16%)
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25 reviews All reviews
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imaginenarwhals
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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The research contained in this book has been cited by Ben Bernanke and Christina Romer, two of the most knowledgeable experts on the Great Depression, as some of the best empirical work in economics, yet it's rated 3.97 stars. That makes no sense.
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TimeStopSamurai
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Comprehensive and broad.

Meticulously researched, but Friedman could’ve left some of the details in the footnotes in favour of brevity and cogent narrative.

His writing is dry.

At times some of his libertarian points come across as silly.
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OgTo
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Friedman is without a doubt one of the most dry authors out there. His writing style leaves much to be desired. Also, when you read his works, you get the impression that he is NOT a man of faith. I don’t know this for certain, but I walk away from his books with a feeling of deep spiritual foreboding. I’d recommend that Bible-believing Christians avoid this book.
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LOUiSRUiSU
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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"A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960 by Milton Friedman (1971)"
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Neku_Tennyson
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Extremely dull and unwilling to explain what it's trying to say.

Friedman believes that money causes economic behavior than the other way around, as explained by every summary of this book ever. Friedman doesn't say that, though. He just keeps pumping out numbers and charts and not explaining anything and asking you to assume conclusions and hypotheticals. The first time you reach a page that has a large pull-out chart, it's kind of fun for its own sake. But he did a terrible job of explaining what he was trying to do.

It perks up a little when it does political history because then there's some narrative at least.
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Brondi
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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A history of economics. Well researched and informative, but a dry read.
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permalink
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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The indispensable reference for historical data and commentary on the US monetary system in the context of economic history from the civil war until 1960.
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