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| Authors | Milton Friedman Rose Friedman |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Nonfiction |
| Publisher | Harcourt |
Publication date | 1980 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Hardback |
| Pages | xii, 338 |
| ISBN | 0-15-133481-1 |
| OCLC | 797729203 |
| 330.12/2 | |
| LC Class | HB501 .F72 |
Free to Choose: A Personal Statement is a 1980 book by economistsMilton andRose D. Friedman, accompanied by a 10-part series broadcast onpublic television, that advocatesfree market principles.[1][2][3] It was primarily a response to an earlier landmark book and television seriesThe Age of Uncertainty, by the noted economistJohn Kenneth Galbraith.Free To Choose has been translated into two dozen languages and a companion book.[4]
Free to Choose: A Personal Statement maintains that the free market works best for all members of a society, provides examples of how the free market engenders prosperity, and maintains that it can solve problems where other approaches have failed. Published in January 1980, the 297-page book contains 10 chapters. The book was on top of the United States best sellers list for five weeks.
PBS broadcast the programs, beginning in January 1980. It was filmed at the invitation of Robert Chitester, the owner ofWQLN-TV. It was based on a 15-part series of taped public lectures and question-and-answer sessions.
The general format was that of Milton Friedman visiting and narrating a number of success and failure stories in history, which he attributes to free-market capitalism or the lack thereof. Following the primary show, Friedman would engage in discussion moderated byRobert McKenzie with a number of selected debaters drawn from trade unions, academy and the business community, such asDonald Rumsfeld (then ofG.D. Searle & Company) andFrances Fox Piven ofCity University of New York. The interlocutors would offer objections to or support for the proposals put forward by Friedman, who would in turn respond. After the final episode, Friedman sat down for an interview withLawrence Spivak.
Guest debaters included:
The series was rebroadcast in 1990 withLinda Chavez moderating the episodes.Arnold Schwarzenegger,George Shultz,Ronald Reagan,David D. Friedman, andSteve Allen, each give personal introductions for one episode. This time, after the documentary segment, Milton Friedman sits down with a single discussion participant to debate the points raised in the episode.
The Friedmans advocatelaissez-faire economic policies, often criticizinginterventionist government policies and their cost in personal freedoms and economic efficiency in the United States and abroad. They argue that international free trade has been restricted throughtariffs and protectionism while domestic free trade and freedom have been limited through high taxation and regulation. They cite the 19th-centuryUnited Kingdom, theUnited States before theGreat Depression, and modernHong Kong as ideal examples of a minimalist economic policy. They contrast theeconomic growth ofJapan after theMeiji Restoration and theeconomic stagnation ofIndia after its independence from theBritish Empire, and argue that India has performed worse despite its superior economic potential due to its centralized planning. They argue that even countries withcommand economies, including theSoviet Union andYugoslavia, have been forced to adopt limited market mechanisms in order to operate.
The authors argue against governmenttaxation on gas andtobacco and government regulation of the public school systems. The Friedmans claim that theFederal Reserve exacerbated theGreat Depression by neglecting to prevent the decline of themoney supply in the years leading up to it. They further argue that the American public falsely perceived the Depression to be a result of a failure of capitalism rather than the government, and that the Depression allowed theFederal Reserve Board to centralize its control of the monetary system despite its responsibility for it.
On the subject ofwelfare, the Friedmans argue that the United States has maintained a higher degree of freedom and productivity by avoiding thenationalizations and extensive welfare systems ofWestern European countries such as theUnited Kingdom andSweden. However, they also argue that welfare practices since the New Deal under "theHEW empire" have been harmful. They argue thatpublic assistance programs have become larger than originally envisioned and are creating "wards of the state" as opposed to "self-reliant individuals." They also argue that theSocial Security System is fundamentally flawed, thaturban renewal andpublic housing programs have contributed toracial inequality and diminished quality of low-income housing, and thatMedicare andMedicaid are responsible for rising healthcare prices in the United States. They suggest completely replacing the welfare state with anegative income tax as a less harmful alternative.
The Friedmans also argue that declining academic performance in the United States is the result of increasing government control of theAmerican education system tracing back to the 1840s, but suggest avoucher system as a politically feasible solution. They blame the1970s recession and lower quality ofconsumer goods on extensive business regulations since the 1960s, and advocate abolishing theFood and Drug Administration, theInterstate Commerce Commission, theConsumer Product Safety Commission,Amtrak, andConrail. They argue that theenergy crisis would be resolved by abolishing theDepartment of Energy andprice floors oncrude oil. They recommend replacing theEnvironmental Protection Agency andenvironmental regulation with aneffluent charge. They criticizelabor unions for raising prices and loweringdemand by enforcing high wage levels, and for contributing tounemployment by limiting jobs. They argue that inflation is caused by excessive government spending, the Federal Reserve's attempts to controlinterest rates, andfull employment policy. They call for tighter control of Fed money supply despite the fact that it will result in a temporary period of high unemployment and low growth due to the interruption of thewage-price spiral. In the final chapter, they take note of recent current events that seem to suggest a return to free-market principles in academic thought and public opinion, and argue in favor of an "economicBill of Rights" to cement the changes.
