The noted Nobel Prize-winning economist, Milton Friedman, writes here on current issues of prevailing concern to every American citizen and taxpayer -- including inflation, its causes, and how to arrest it: monetary policy and the disappointing performance of the Federal Reserve Board: the recessions that continue to plague us: and the constraints that are placed upon the workings of a free market.

In more than 70 short essays, most of them written for his regular column in Newsweek magazine. Professor Friedman displays the powers of analysis and expression that have made him both the most widely respected economist in America today and a trusted advisor to our nation's leaders.

These short commentaries address six major themes, from issues of economic and political freedom, to governmental regulation and fiscal policy, to international economics. They reveal the dynamics behind many of our most pressing current problems, as well as Friedman's affirmation of America's most cherished ideals.