View source for Free to Choose

{{Short description|Book and television series produced by the Friedmans}}
{{Other uses of|Freedom of choice}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2013}}
{{no footnotes|date=January 2024}}
{{Infobox book
| name         = Free to Choose: A Personal Statement
| image        = Free to Choose.jpg
| image_size = 180px
| authors       = [[Milton Friedman]]<br>[[Rose Friedman]]
| country      = United States
| language     = English
| genre        = [[Nonfiction]]
| publisher    = [[Harcourt Trade Publishers|Harcourt]]
| release_date = 1980
| media_type   = Hardback
| pages        = xii, 338
| isbn         = 0-15-133481-1
| dewey        = 330.12/2
| congress     = HB501 .F72
| oclc         = 797729203
}}{{Libertarianism US|literature}}
'''''Free to Choose: A Personal Statement''''' is a 1980 book by economists [[Milton Friedman|Milton]] and [[Rose D. Friedman]], accompanied by a 10-part series broadcast on [[public television]], that advocates [[free market]] principles.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-06-07 |title=Echoes of the 1970s and Why It’s Time to Watch Free to Choose Again |url=https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/06/echoes-of-the1970s-and-why-its-time-to-watch-free-to-choose-again/ |access-date=2025-06-09 |website=National Review |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-09-21 |title=Free to Choose After Forty Years {{!}} The Daily Economy |url=https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/free-to-choose-after-forty-years/ |access-date=2025-06-09 |website=thedailyeconomy.org |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Miltimore |first=Jon |last2=Jacobsen |first2=Peter |last3=Lorenc |first3=Richard |title='Free to Choose': 10 of the Best Moments Ever |url=https://fee.org/articles/free-to-choose-10-of-the-best-moments-ever/ |access-date=2025-06-09 |website=fee.org |language=en-US}}</ref> It was primarily a response to an earlier landmark book and television series ''[[The Age of Uncertainty]]'', by the noted economist [[John Kenneth Galbraith]]. ''Free To Choose'' has been translated into two dozen languages and a companion book.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-10-26 |title=Milton Friedman's Free to Choose Proved Capitalism Is Superior to Socialism |url=https://reason.com/video/2020/10/26/milton-friedmans-free-to-choose-proved-capitalism-is-superior-to-socialism/ |access-date=2025-06-10 |website=Reason.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

In 2020, ''[[Reason (magazine)|Reason]]'' marked the 40th anniversary of ''Free to Choose'', writing that it "proved capitalism is superior to socialism."<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-10-26 |title=Milton Friedman's Free to Choose Proved Capitalism Is Superior to Socialism |url=https://reason.com/video/2020/10/26/milton-friedmans-free-to-choose-proved-capitalism-is-superior-to-socialism/ |access-date=2025-06-10 |website=Reason.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Overview==
''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.

[[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]] broadcast the programs, beginning in January 1980. It was filmed at the invitation of Robert Chitester, the owner of [[WQLN (TV)|WQLN-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 by [[Robert McKenzie (psephologist)|Robert McKenzie]] with a number of selected debaters drawn from trade unions, academy and the business community, such as [[Donald Rumsfeld]] (then of [[G.D. Searle & Company]]) and [[Frances Fox Piven]] of [[City 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 with [[Lawrence E. Spivak|Lawrence Spivak]].

===Guest debaters===
Guest debaters included:
{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[Gregory Anrig]] (Commissioner of [[Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education|Massachusetts Department of Education]]) – Episode 6
* [[Jagdish Bhagwati]] (economist) – Episode 2
* [[Samuel Bowles (economist)|Samuel Bowles]] (economist) – Vol. 3 Episode 5
* William H. Brady (Founder and President of [[Brady Corporation|W.H. Brady Co.]]) – Episode 8
* [[Bud Brown (politician)|Clarence J. Brown]] (politician) – Episode 9
* [[Joan Claybrook]] (Administrator of the [[National Highway Traffic Safety Administration]]) – Episode 7
* [[Barber Conable]] (politician, President of the [[World Bank]]) – Episode 1
* [[John Coons]] ([[Legal education|law professor]], [[school choice]] activist) – Episode 6
* [[Robert Crandall]] ([[Brookings Institution]] economist) – Episode 7
* [[Richard Deason]] ([[International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers|IBEW]] [[Trade union|union]] leader) – Episode 2
* [[James R. Dumpson]] ([[bureaucrat]], [[social work]]er, [[Academia|academic]]) – Episode 4
* [[Otmar Emminger]] (President of [[Deutsche Bundesbank]]) – Episode 9
* [[Bob Galvin]] (CEO of [[Motorola|Motorola, Inc.]]) – Episode 1
* Ernest Green ([[United States Department of Labor|U.S. Assistant Secretary of Labor]]) – Episode 8
* [[Michael Harrington]] (author, [[Academia|academic]], activist) – Episode 1
* [[Nicholas von Hoffman]] (journalist, [[Pundit (expert)|political commentator]]/columnist) – Episode 3
* [[Helen Hughes (economist)|Helen Hughes]] (economist) – Episode 2
* [[Peter Jay (diplomat)|Peter Jay]] (economist, journalist, diplomat) – Episodes 3, 5
* [[Robert Lampman]] (economist) – Episode 4
* [[Richard Landau]] ([[Medical education|medical professor]]) – Episode 7
* [[Robert Lekachman]] (economist) – Episode 3
* [[William McChesney Martin]] (former [[Chairman of the Federal Reserve]]) – Episode 9
* [[Helen O'Bannon|Helen Bohen O'Bannon]] (economist, bureaucrat, social worker) – Episode 4
* [[Kathleen O'Reilly]] ([[Consumer Federation of America]] [[Consumer activism|consumer advocate]]) – Episode 7
* [[Russell W. Peterson]] ([[chemist]], politician) – Episode 1
* [[Frances Fox Piven]] (academic) – Episode 5
* [[Donald Rumsfeld]] (politician, President of [[G. D. Searle & Company]]) – Episode 2
* [[Albert Shanker]] (President of [[United Federation of Teachers]] and [[American Federation of Teachers]] teachers' unions) – Episode 6
* Thomas Shannon (executive director of the [[National School Boards Association]]) – Episode 6
* [[Thomas Sowell]] (economist, author, columnist) – Episodes 4, 5
* [[Beryl Wayne Sprinkel]] (Executive Vice President of [[BMO Harris Bank|Harris Bank]]) – Episode 9
* [[Peter Temin]] (economist) – Episode 3
* [[Lynn R. Williams]] (International Secretary of [[United Steelworkers]]) – Episode 8
* [[Walter E. Williams]] (economist, political commentator) – Episode 8
{{div col end}}

===1990 rebroadcast===
The series was rebroadcast in 1990 with [[Linda Chavez]] moderating the episodes. [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]], [[George Shultz]], [[Ronald Reagan]], [[David D. Friedman]], and [[Steve 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.

==Positions advocated==
The Friedmans advocate ''[[laissez-faire]]'' economic policies, often criticizing [[Interventionism (politics)|interventionist]] 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 through [[tariff]]s and protectionism while domestic free trade and freedom have been limited through high taxation and regulation. They cite the 19th-century [[United Kingdom]], the [[United States]] before the [[Great Depression in the United States|Great Depression]], and modern [[Hong Kong]] as ideal examples of a minimalist economic policy. They contrast the [[Economic history of Japan|economic growth]] of [[Japan]] after the [[Meiji Restoration]] and the [[economic stagnation]] of [[India]] after its independence from the [[British Empire]], and argue that India has performed worse despite its superior economic potential due to its centralized planning. They argue that even countries with [[Planned economy|command economies]], including the [[Soviet Union]] and [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]], have been forced to adopt limited market mechanisms in order to operate.

The authors argue against government [[Fuel tax|taxation on gas]] and [[Tobacco tax|tobacco]] and government regulation of the public school systems. The Friedmans claim that the [[Federal Reserve System|Federal Reserve]] exacerbated the [[Great Depression]] by neglecting to prevent the decline of the [[money 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 the [[Federal Reserve Board of Governors|Federal Reserve Board]] to centralize its control of the monetary system despite its responsibility for it.

On the subject of [[Welfare state|welfare]], the Friedmans argue that the United States has maintained a higher degree of freedom and productivity by avoiding the [[nationalization]]s and extensive welfare systems of [[Western Europe]]an countries such as the [[Welfare state in the United Kingdom|United Kingdom]] and [[Sweden]]. However, they also argue that welfare practices since the New Deal under "the [[United States Department of Health and Human Services#Department of Health, Education, and Welfare|HEW]] empire" have been harmful. They argue that [[Social programs in the United States|public 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 the [[Social Security (United States)|Social Security System]] is fundamentally flawed, that [[urban renewal]] and [[public housing]] programs have contributed to [[Racial inequality in the United States|racial inequality]] and diminished quality of low-income housing, and that [[Medicare (United States)|Medicare]] and [[Medicaid]] are responsible for rising healthcare prices in the United States. They suggest completely replacing the welfare state with a [[negative 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 the [[Education in the United States|American education system]] tracing back to the 1840s, but suggest a [[School voucher|voucher system]] as a politically feasible solution. They blame the [[1973–1975 recession|1970s recession]] and lower quality of [[consumer goods]] on extensive business regulations since the 1960s, and advocate abolishing the [[Food and Drug Administration]], the [[Interstate Commerce Commission]], the [[U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission|Consumer Product Safety Commission]], [[Amtrak]], and [[Conrail]]. They argue that the [[1970s energy crisis|energy crisis]] would be resolved by abolishing the [[United States Department of Energy|Department of Energy]] and [[price floor]]s on [[Petroleum|crude oil]]. They recommend replacing the [[United States Environmental Protection Agency|Environmental Protection Agency]] and [[Environmental policy of the United States|environmental regulation]] with an [[Ecotax|effluent charge]]. They criticize [[Trade union|labor unions]] for raising prices and lowering [[Law of demand|demand]] by enforcing high wage levels, and for contributing to [[Unemployment in the United States|unemployment]] by limiting jobs. They argue that inflation is caused by excessive government spending, the Federal Reserve's attempts to control [[interest rate]]s, and [[full 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 the [[Price/wage spiral|wage-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 "economic [[Bill of rights|Bill of Rights]]" to cement the changes.

==Video chapters (1980 version)==
# The Power of the Market
# The Tyranny of Control
# Anatomy of Crisis
# From Cradle to Grave
# Created Equal
# What's Wrong with Our Schools?
# Who Protects the Consumer?
# Who Protects the Worker?
# How to Cure Inflation
# How to Stay Free

==Video chapters (1990 version)==
# The Power of the Market – Introduction by Arnold Schwarzenegger
# The Tyranny of Control – Introduction by George Shultz
# Freedom and Prosperity (featured only in the 1990 version) – Introduction by Ronald Reagan
# The Failure of Socialism (original title: "What's Wrong With Our Schools?") – Introduction by David D. Friedman
# Created Equal – Introduction by Steve Allen

==See also==
* [[Bob Chitester]]
* ''[[The Age of Uncertainty]]''
* ''[[The Commanding Heights]]''

== References ==
* {{cite journal |first=Sören |last=Brandes |url=http://www.zeithistorische-forschungen.de/3-2015/id%3D5284 |title='Free to choose': Die Popularisierung des Neoliberalismus in Milton Friedmans Fernsehserie (1980/90) |journal=Zeithistorische Forschungen/Studies in Contemporary History |volume=12 |issue=3 |editor-first1=Ralf |editor-last1=Ahrens |editor-first2=Marcus |editor-last2=Böick |editor-first3=Marcel |editor-last3=vom Lehn |date=December 2015 |pages=526–533 |language=de}}
* {{cite journal |first=Angus |last=Burgin |title=Age of Certainty: Galbraith, Friedman, and the Public Life of Economic Ideas |editor-first1=Tiago |editor-last1=Mata |editor-first2=Steven G. |editor-last2=Medema |journal=[[History of Political Economy]] |volume=45 |issue=supp. 1 |publisher=Duke University |year=2013 |pages=191–219 |doi=10.1215/00182702-2310998}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.freetochoose.tv/ Streaming of the original 1980 television series ''Free to Choose'' as well as an updated 1990 version.]
* [http://www.freetochoose.net/broadcasts/freetochoose/index.php?type=media ''Free To Choose'' Media page]
* [https://www.youtube.com/user/jeremyparendt/videos ''Jeremy Arendt's Video Collections from PBS Broadcast'' ]

{{Milton Friedman}}

[[Category:1980 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:Books about capitalism]]
[[Category:Classical liberalism]]
[[Category:Collaborative non-fiction books]]
[[Category:Documentary television series about economics]]
[[Category:Economics books]]
[[Category:Harcourt (publisher) books]]
[[Category:Television shows based on books]]
[[Category:Works by Milton Friedman]]
[[Category:Books about conservatism]]