what inspired friedman to become an economist 
friedman who was born in 1912 said that the great depression was of one of the most important factors influencing his decision to become an economist he wanted to investigate the causes and consequences of such widespread economic misery the bottom linemilton friedman is widely considered the most influential economic and public policy thinker of the second half of the 20th century just as keynes is considered the most influential of the first half one of friedman s most significant accomplishments was the extent to which his theories influenced government policy and public opinion as well as economic research friedman s public policy theories are based on two core principles that voluntary interactions between consumers and businesses often produce results superior to those crafted by government decree and that policies have unintended consequences so economists should focus on results not intentions friedman s use of monetarism to contradict keynesian theories based on the phillips curve is considered a major intellectual triumph by both critics and admirers when the stagflation of the late 1970s proved the accuracy of his prediction that the historical correlation between inflation and unemployment would eventually break down it was hailed as one of the great triumphs of postwar economics 