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Influential economist Milton Friedman was yesterday being mourned by National Party leader Don Brash, who fondly remembers hosting the Nobel Prize winner at his home last year.
The death of the free market economist at 94 in San Francisco on Thursday has sparked a rush of international tributes while, closer to home, Dr Brash described the Nobel laureate as one of the leading economists of the past 100 years.
"He made an enormous contribution to economic thinking in the last century," the former Reserve Bank governor said.
"One of the reasons we had a good relationship was that he regarded the Reserve Bank of New Zealand's structure and mandate, and indeed performance in the late 80s, as being world leading."
Friedman, his wife, Rose, and Dr Brash first crossed paths in the early 1980s when he and a sharebroking firm invited the economist here for a series of lectures.
Since then, Dr Brash had had several meals with Friedman in San Francisco as well as hosting the couple for dinner at his home last year.
"If you asked me to name the two or three economists who had made the greatest contribution to economics in the last century, he would be among them."
Act leader Rodney Hide also paid tribute to Friedman, who addressed his party's annual conference in 2003 via video link. He said Friedman was a "tireless advocate" of free market economics, individual choice and personal responsibility.
International luminaries to pay tribute included California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who said: "When I was first exposed to his powerful writings about money, free markets and individual freedom, it was like getting hit by a thunderbolt."
Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said: "Milton Friedman revived the economics of liberty He was an intellectual freedom fighter."
