David Director Friedman (born February 12, 1945) is an American

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

, legal scholar, and

anarcho-capitalist Anarcho-capitalism (or, colloquially, ancap) is an anti-statist, libertarian, and anti-political philosophy and economic theory that seeks to abolish centralized states in favor of stateless societies with systems of private property enfo ...

theorist. Although he studied chemistry and physics and not law or economics, he is known for his textbook writings on

microeconomics Microeconomics is a branch of mainstream economics that studies the behavior of individuals and firms in making decisions regarding the allocation of scarce resources and the interactions among these individuals and firms. Microeconomics fo ...

and the

libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's en ...

theory of anarcho-capitalism, which is the subject of his most popular book, ''

The Machinery of Freedom ''The Machinery of Freedom'' is a nonfiction book by David D. Friedman that advocates an anarcho-capitalist society from a consequentialist perspective. The book was published in 1973, with a second edition in 1989 and a third edition in 2014. ...

''. Described by

Walter Block Walter Edward Block (born August 21, 1941) is an American Austrian School economist and anarcho-capitalist theorist. He currently holds the Harold E. Wirth Eminent Scholar Endowed Chair in Economics at the School of Business at Loyola Universit ...

as a "

free-market anarchist Free-market anarchism, or market anarchism, also known as free-market anti-capitalism and free-market socialism, is the branch of anarchism that advocates a free-market economic system based on voluntary interactions without the involvement of ...

" theorist, Friedman has also authored several other books and articles, including ''Price Theory: An Intermediate Text'' (1986), ''Law's Order: What Economics Has to Do with Law and Why It Matters'' (2000), ''Hidden Order: The Economics of Everyday Life'' (1996), and ''Future Imperfect'' (2008).

Life and work

David Friedman is the son of economists

Rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...

and

Milton Friedman Milton Friedman (; July 31, 1912 – November 16, 2006) was an American economist and statistician who received the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his research on consumption analysis, monetary history and theory and the ...

. He graduated magna cum laude from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

in 1965, with a bachelor's degree in chemistry and physics. He later earned a master's (1967) and a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * '' Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. al ...

(1971) in theoretical physics from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

. Despite his later career, he never took a class for credit in either economics or law. He was a professor of law at

Santa Clara University Santa Clara University is a private Jesuit university in Santa Clara, California. Established in 1851, Santa Clara University is the oldest operating institution of higher learning in California. The university's campus surrounds the historic Mis ...

from 2005 to 2017, and a contributing editor for ''

Liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

'' magazine. He is currently a Professor

Emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

. He is an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

. His son,

Patri Friedman Patri Friedman (born July 29, 1976) is an American libertarian, neoreactionary, anarcho-capitalist, and theorist of political economy. He founded The Seasteading Institute, a non-profit that explores the creation of sovereign ocean colonies. ...

, has also written about libertarian theory and market anarchism, particularly

seasteading Seasteading is the concept of creating permanent dwellings at sea, called seasteads, in international waters outside the territory claimed by any government. No one has yet created a structure on the high seas that has been recognized as a sov ...

''The Machinery of Freedom''

In his book ''The Machinery of Freedom'' (1973), Friedman sketched a form of

anarcho-capitalism Anarcho-capitalism (or, colloquially, ancap) is an anti-statist, libertarian, and anti-political philosophy and economic theory that seeks to abolish centralized states in favor of stateless societies with systems of private property en ...

where all goods and services including law itself can be produced by the

free market In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any ot ...

. Friedman advocates an incrementalist approach to achieve anarcho-capitalism by gradual

privatization Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

of areas that government is involved in, ultimately privatizing the law itself. In the book, he states his opposition to violent anarcho-capitalist revolution. He advocates a

consequentialist In ethical philosophy, consequentialism is a class of normative, teleological ethical theories that holds that the consequences of one's conduct are the ultimate basis for judgment about the rightness or wrongness of that conduct. Thus, from ...

version of anarcho-capitalism, arguing for it on a cost-benefit analysis of state versus no state. It is contrasted with the natural-rights approach as propounded most notably by economist and libertarian theorist

Murray Rothbard Murray Newton Rothbard (; March 2, 1926 – January 7, 1995) was an American economist of the Austrian School, economic historian, political theorist, and activist. Rothbard was a central figure in the 20th-century American libertarian ...

Non-academic interests

Friedman is a longtime member of the

Society for Creative Anachronism The Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) is an international living history group with the aim of studying and recreating mainly Medieval European cultures and their histories before the 17th century. A quip often used within the SCA describes ...

, where he is known as ''Duke Cariadoc of the Bow''. He is known throughout the worldwide society for his articles on the philosophy of recreationism and practical historical recreations, especially those relating to the medieval

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

. His work is compiled in the popular ''Cariadoc's Miscellany''. He is sometimes credited with founding the largest and longest-running SCA event, the

Pennsic War The Pennsic War is an annual American medieval camping event held by the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA), a "war" between two large regional SCA groups: the Kingdom of the East and the Middle Kingdom. It is the single largest annual SCA e ...

; as king of the Middle Kingdom he challenged the East Kingdom, and later as king of the East accepted the challenge and lost (to himself). He was a teenage wargamer who taught his school friend, Jack Radey, founder of People's War Games, how to play such wargames as ''

Tactics II Tactic(s) or Tactical may refer to: * Tactic (method), a conceptual action implemented as one or more specific tasks ** Military tactics, the disposition and maneuver of units on a particular sea or battlefield ** Chess tactics ** Political tacti ...

''. Radey relates how Friedman and himself wrote to

Charles S. Roberts Charles Swann Roberts (February 3, 1930 – August 20, 2010, Baltimore, Maryland) was a wargame designer, railroad historian, and businessman. He is renowned as "The Father of Board Wargaming", having created the first commercially successful m ...

claiming that they had found a first turn winning strategy for each of the two sides. Roberts replied that their interpretation of the rules was valid. He is a long-time

science fiction fan Science fiction fandom or SF fandom is a community or fandom of people interested in science fiction in contact with one another based upon that interest. SF fandom has a life of its own, but not much in the way of formal organization (although ...

, and has written two

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

novels, ''Harald'' (

Baen Books Baen Books () is an American publishing house for science fiction and fantasy. In science fiction, it emphasizes space opera, hard science fiction, and military science fiction. The company was established in 1983 by science fiction publisher an ...

, 2006) and ''Salamander'' (2011). He has spoken in favor of a

non-interventionist Non-interventionism or non-intervention is a political philosophy or national foreign policy doctrine that opposes interference in the domestic politics and affairs of other countries but, in contrast to isolationism, is not necessarily opposed t ...

foreign policy.

Bibliography

Nonfiction

* 1988.
Cariadoc's Miscellany
'. * 1990 (2nd ed.; 1st ed.: 1986).

'. Southwestern Publishing. * 1996. ''Hidden Order: The Economics of Everyday Life''. . * 2000.
Law's Order: What Economics Has to Do with Law and Why It Matters
'. Princeton Univ. Press. * 2005. "The Case for Privacy" in ''Contemporary Debates in Applied Ethics''. Wiley-Blackwell. * 2008.

'. * 2015 (3rd ed.; 2nd ed.: 1989; 1st ed.: 1973). ''

''. * 2019.
Legal Systems Very Different from Ours
'.

Fiction

* * ''Salamander'', 2011 * ''Brothers'', 2020

References

External links

* *
Profile
on the website of Santa Clara University *
''Booknotes'' interview with Friedman on ''Hidden Order: The Economics of Everyday Life'', October 20, 1996.
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Friedman, David D. 1945 births Living people 20th-century American economists 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American physicists 20th-century American poets 20th-century atheists 21st-century American economists 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American physicists 21st-century American poets 21st-century atheists American anarcho-capitalists Jewish American atheists American economics writers American legal scholars American libertarians American male bloggers American bloggers American male non-fiction writers American male novelists American male poets American people of Austrian-Jewish descent American people of Hungarian-Jewish descent American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent American political philosophers American political writers Chicago School economists Consequentialists Free-market anarchists Friedman family Harvard College alumni Jewish American novelists Jewish American poets Jewish American social scientists Jewish physicists Legal educators Libertarian economists Libertarian theorists Non-interventionism Philosophers of economics Philosophy writers Santa Clara University School of Law faculty Science fiction fans University of Chicago alumni Usenet people Wargamers Member of the Mont Pelerin Society