| Abstract: |
Milton Friedman is usually presented as an economist characterized by his
empirical approach to economics. His binary classification of economics into
positive means and normative ends relies on the empirical content of
predictions. Throughout his career, he used extensive, data-based statistical
techniques. While important scholarly attention has been devoted to Friedman’s
academic and political trajectories, his methodological prescriptions, and the
development of economics at the University of Chicago, we know much less about
the interplay of these elements. This paper proposes an intertwined reading of
them. My aim is threefold. First, to understand Friedman’s work and
methodological choices, I relate his empirical approach to his early training
in statistics. Second, I articulate Friedman’s understanding of economics as
an empirical policy science to the process of building the image of economists
as neutral advisers in the policymaking process. Third, I claim that
Friedman’s empirical methodological framework, developed while in the
Economics Department of the University of Chicago, established the guidelines
for an institutional long-term project that shaped it. |