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Milton Friedman on Money, banking, and the gold standard

Why should they also be accepted by private persons in private transactions in exchange for goods and services? The short answer—and the right answer—is that private persons accept these pieces of paper because they are confident that others will. The pieces of green paper have value because everybody thinks they have value. Everybody thinks they have value because in everybody's experience they have had value …
Money Mischief
Book, 1992, Ch. 2 The Mystery of Money
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  1. On interest rates, the desirable policy is to permit interest rates to be determined completely by free markets. ( … ) A free competitive market in loanable funds is no less desirable than a free and competitive market in other goods and services.
    Statement to the House Subcommittee on Domestic Finance
    Testimony, 1968, Compendium on Monetary Policy Guidelines and Federal Reserve Structure, Subcommittee on Domestic Finance, House Committee on Banking and Currency, 90th Congress, 2nd Session (December 1968), p. 204
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  2. Before there were airplanes, nobody thought of the problem of trespass through air. So simply saying “private property” is a mantra, not an answer. Simply saying “use the market” is not an answer.
    Say 'No' to Intolerance
    Speech, 1991, Liberty, vol. 4, no. 6 (July 1991), p. 20
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  3. It is a mystery why anyone would suppose that a person is better off unemployed at $2 an hour than voluntarily employed at $1.60.
    Legislating Unemployment
    Column, 1972, Newsweek (1972; the issue current on June 28, 1972); reprinted in full in the Congressional Record, Extensions of Remarks, June 28, 1972, p. 23100, Congressional Record, June 28, 1972, p. 23100
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