Benjamin Morton Friedman (born 1944) is a leading American political economist. Friedman 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.Friedman received his A.B., A.M., and Ph.D. degrees, all in economics, from Harvard University. He also received an M.Sc.