Final answer:
Adam Smith is the economist who advocated for a laissez-faire approach where government stays out of the economy, letting supply and demand guide markets. Milton Friedman also supported free-market economics with a focus on minimal government intervention and control of money supply. These views contrast with Keynesian economics, which supports government intervention.
Step-by-step explanation:
The economist who thought that government should stay out of economic decisions and that the economy should be guided by the forces of supply and demand alone was Adam Smith. He is often associated with the concept of laissez-faire economics, which is an economic policy that assumes the key to economic growth and development is for the government to allow private markets to operate efficiently without interference. Smith’s ideas are fundamentally different from those of John Maynard Keynes, who advocated for government intervention to manage economic cycles, suggesting that during downturns, governments should increase spending to stimulate growth.
Milton Friedman, however, supported free-market capitalism similar to Smith, but with a particular emphasis on the control of the money supply growing in tandem with the economy itself. Friedman's views align with the Monetarist school of thought, which like laissez-faire champions minimal government intervention in economic matters.