For Immediate Release
July 3, 2008
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Senate Passes Folmer Resolution Honoring Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman

HARRISBURG – The Senate today unanimously passed Senator Mike Folmer’s (R-48) resolution honoring the life of Milton Friedman, one of history’s most influential economists and advocates of economic freedom.

The resolution commemorates the many contributions Friedman made to society, and what would have been his 96th birthday on July 31, 2008.

Friedman received the 1976 Nobel Prize in Economics for his groundbreaking achievement in monetary theory. In 1988 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the National Medal of Science. He was a member of President Ronald Reagan’s Economic Advisory Board and also served as an economic advisor to the presidential campaigns of Barry Goldwater and Richard Nixon.

Friedman authored several books, including Capitalism and Freedom and Free to Choose, the best-selling nonfiction book of 1980.

Friedman’s influence extended to the administrations of several heads of state, including Brian Mulroney in Canada, Margaret Thatcher in Britain, Augusto Pinochet in Chile, Davio Oddsson in Iceland, and Mart Laar in Estonia.

"Friedman was devoted to the proposition that we are responsible for our own lives," Folmer said. "I am humbled to honor his life and the many contributions he has made to society."

Friedman died November 16, 2006.