Benjamin M. Friedman

Benjamin Morton Friedman (; born 1944) is an American political economist, who is the William Joseph Maier Professor of Political Economy at Harvard University. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Brookings Institute's Panel on Economic Activity, and the editorial board of the Encyclopædia Britannica. He is a recipient of the John R. Commons Award, given by the economics honor society Omicron Delta Epsilon.

Education and career Friedman received his A.B., A.M., and Ph.D. degrees, all in economics, from Harvard University. He also received an M.Sc. in economics and politics from King's College, Cambridge, as a Marshall Scholar. He has been on the Harvard faculty since 1972. Currently Friedman is a member of the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation.

Personal life Friedman married Barbara Cook in 1972. Their son, John Friedman, is the inaugural dean of the Watson School of International and Public Affairs.

Partial bibliography Economic Stabilization Policy: Methods in Optimization, American Elsevier (1975) Monetary Policy in the United States: Design and Implementation, Association of Reserve City Bankers (1981) Day of Reckoning: The Consequences of American Economic Policy under Reagan and After, Random House (1988) Implications of Increasing Corporate Indebtedness for Monetary Policy, Group of Thirty (New York, NY) (1990) Does Debt Management Matter?, with Jonas Agell and Mats Persson, Oxford University Press (New York, NY) (1992) The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth, Knopf (2005) Religion and the Rise of Capitalism, Knopf (2021)