The Dog that Didn't Bark: The Curious Case of Lloyd Mints, Milton Friedman and the Emergence of Monetarism

Abstract

Lloyd Mints has long been considered a peripheral figure in the development of monetary economics at the University of Chicago. We provide evidence showing that the standard assessment of Mints’s standing in Chicago monetary economics -- and in American monetary economics more broadly -- is mistaken. In light of the originality and the breadth of his monetary contributions, and given the degree to which those contributions shaped part of Milton Friedman’s monetary framework and were pushed forward by Friedman, we argue that, far from being a peripheral figure in the development of Chicago monetary economics, Mints played a catalytic role.

Keywords: Lloyd Mints, Milton Friedman, monetarism, Chicago monetary tradition

JEL Classification: B22, E52