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Publication
University of Chicago Press (2002), Edition: First edition, 230 pages
Description
Selected by the Times Literary Supplement as one of the "hundred most influential books since the war" How can we benefit from the promise of government while avoiding the threat it poses to individual freedom? In this classic book, Milton Friedman provides the definitive statement of his immensely influential economic philosophy--one in which competitive capitalism serves as both a device for achieving economic freedom and a necessary condition for political freedom. The result is an accessible text that has sold well over half a million copies in English, has been translated into eighteen languages, and shows every sign of becoming more and more influential as time goes on.
Media reviews
In this classic book, Capitalism and Freedom, Friedman presents his case for capitalism and why it's the best type of economic system for both freedom and prosperity.
User reviews
LibraryThing member John_Warner
This nonfiction book from the Nobel Prize winner and American economist, Milton Friedman, discusses economic capitalism in a liberal society. The reader should note that he uses the traditional, pre-Great Depression, definition of liberalism, which was emphasized freedom as the ultimate goal, the
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individual as the ultimate entity in society, decentralized government, and a business environment which fosters voluntary co-operation of individuals without coercion. I could not finish this book albeit I did pick out some nuggets of wisdom within the pages I read. I could not finish this book without returning to college for an advanced economic degree. Show Less
LibraryThing member HadriantheBlind
Milton Friedman died in 2006, and his teachings live on. The economist as demagogue, preaching all will be subordinate to the Market, all-powerful, all-knowing. It giveth and taketh away.
I admit freely for the purposes of bias that I lean to the left. But I recognize that the market is a powerful
However, this book discards all subtlety and offers only one solution to all problems. Deregulation, lowering taxes, lowering them again, cutting out social aid networks, and doing so again. Deregulation of public education, leading to fundamentalist and revisionist curricula, and poor performing charter schools. Removal of all worker's rights, making them relatively powerless against corporations. He even goes so far as to suggest the removal of medical licensing to alleviate a doctor shortage, and let the market act, leaving bodies in its wake.
Speaking of bodies, the name of Milton Friedman is still widely reviled in Latin America, most notably due to his advice to the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile, which adopted many of his policies as a national experiment. Dictatorship and bloodbaths aside, the economic gains from those years are fragmentary at best - Chile's privatized pension system was in a state of disrepair.
And what of his belief that unions or minimum wages were not necessary for all to share in the growth that free markets provide? The past thirty years have been an extended counter-example to him, with corporations achieving record profits after the recession, and the wages of the lower and middle classes barely rising to make pace with inflation. Perhaps now the pendulum of history and policy will swing another way.
I admit freely for the purposes of bias that I lean to the left. But I recognize that the market is a powerful
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force for innovation, for growth and change. I am willing to recognize that at times, the market can be too constrictive, and that there are times where we must carefully examine the situation and determine which policies are best. Milton Friedman, despite his efforts here, is an intelligent man, and recognizes the subtleties of economics.However, this book discards all subtlety and offers only one solution to all problems. Deregulation, lowering taxes, lowering them again, cutting out social aid networks, and doing so again. Deregulation of public education, leading to fundamentalist and revisionist curricula, and poor performing charter schools. Removal of all worker's rights, making them relatively powerless against corporations. He even goes so far as to suggest the removal of medical licensing to alleviate a doctor shortage, and let the market act, leaving bodies in its wake.
Speaking of bodies, the name of Milton Friedman is still widely reviled in Latin America, most notably due to his advice to the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile, which adopted many of his policies as a national experiment. Dictatorship and bloodbaths aside, the economic gains from those years are fragmentary at best - Chile's privatized pension system was in a state of disrepair.
And what of his belief that unions or minimum wages were not necessary for all to share in the growth that free markets provide? The past thirty years have been an extended counter-example to him, with corporations achieving record profits after the recession, and the wages of the lower and middle classes barely rising to make pace with inflation. Perhaps now the pendulum of history and policy will swing another way.
Show Less
LibraryThing member szarka
Although the later Free to Choose may appeal to a broader audience, Capitalism and Freedom is an earlier and more concise discussion of the same themes.
LibraryThing member Ishpeck
Nobel Prize Winner, Milton Friedman, explains in very plain, very lucid terms how freedom is linked to the economy and how a people can and ought to entrust to themselves, the power to govern their lives.
LibraryThing member RonManners
"The lectures that helped shape into this book were delivered a quarter of a century ago (1953) Those of us who were deeply concerned about the danger to freedom and prosperity from the growth of governemt, from the triumph of the welfare state and Keynesian ideas, were a small beleaguered minority
Even 7 years later, when the book was first published, its views were so far out of the mainstream that it was not reviewed by any major national publications.
How much the intellectual climate has changed in the past quarter century isattested to by the very different reception that greeted my book 'Free to Choose', a direct lineal descendant of 'Capitalism and Freedom' presenting the same basic philosophy and published in 1980.
What then is the role of books such as this? Twofold, in my opinion. First, to provide subject matter for bull sessions. As we wrote in the Preface to Free to Choose: "The only person who can truly persuade you is yourself. You must turn the issues over in your mind at leisure, consider the many arguments, let them simmer, and after a long time turn your preferences into convictions."
Second, and more basic, to keep options open until circumstances make change necessary. There is enormous inertia—a tyranny of the status quo—in private and especially governmental arrangements. Only a crisis—actual or perceived—produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our basic function: to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes politically inevitable.
Incidentally, the draft is the only item on my list of fourteen unjustified government activities that has been so far eliminated - and that victory is by no means final. In respect of many of the other items, we have moved still farther away from the principles espoused in this book—which is, on one hand, a reason why the climate of opinion has changed and, on the other, evidence that that change has so far had little practical effect. Evidence also that the fundamental thrust of this book is as pertinent to 1981 as to 1962, even though some examples and details may be outdated."
- Milton Friedman
Taken from the Preface
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regarded as eccentrics .Even 7 years later, when the book was first published, its views were so far out of the mainstream that it was not reviewed by any major national publications.
How much the intellectual climate has changed in the past quarter century isattested to by the very different reception that greeted my book 'Free to Choose', a direct lineal descendant of 'Capitalism and Freedom' presenting the same basic philosophy and published in 1980.
What then is the role of books such as this? Twofold, in my opinion. First, to provide subject matter for bull sessions. As we wrote in the Preface to Free to Choose: "The only person who can truly persuade you is yourself. You must turn the issues over in your mind at leisure, consider the many arguments, let them simmer, and after a long time turn your preferences into convictions."
Second, and more basic, to keep options open until circumstances make change necessary. There is enormous inertia—a tyranny of the status quo—in private and especially governmental arrangements. Only a crisis—actual or perceived—produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our basic function: to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes politically inevitable.
Incidentally, the draft is the only item on my list of fourteen unjustified government activities that has been so far eliminated - and that victory is by no means final. In respect of many of the other items, we have moved still farther away from the principles espoused in this book—which is, on one hand, a reason why the climate of opinion has changed and, on the other, evidence that that change has so far had little practical effect. Evidence also that the fundamental thrust of this book is as pertinent to 1981 as to 1962, even though some examples and details may be outdated."
- Milton Friedman
Taken from the Preface
Show Less
LibraryThing member jwhenderson
I recently saw an encore presentation of a classic interview of Milton Friedman by Brian Lamb on Booknotes. This interview reminded me that this book is one of the most important books I have ever read. Capitalism and Freedom was a primary contributor to my decision to major in Economics in
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college. As a freshman in the fall of 1967 I was privileged to be part of the "Honors" program and one of the courses I took as part of that program of studies was Economics. One of our readings was this little (it is relatively short) book by Milton Friedman. It is a powerful little book full of exciting ideas about the power of capitalism and the importance of free market and the fundamental premise that freedom is the foundation for prosperity. I was moved to read and discover more about the science of economics and now, more than forty years later, I still consider the lessons of Milton Friedman, who would be awarded the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1976, in this book, and in his many others including the great Free to Choose, to be foundational for my view of the world. Show Less
LibraryThing member LisaMaria_C
Milton Friedman is a Nobel Prize-winning economist associated with the "Chicago School" of free-market theorists. But it's not so simple to just peg Friedman as this man of the right. For one, he refuses to call himself a conservative. He points out that classically, it was defenders of the market
This was first published in 1962. So this is over 50 years old. Outdated? Irrelevant? No, I found it scarily topical. Scary, because you would think its lessons would have long been learned. Granted, in me Friedman had a friendly audience who is sympathetic to free market arguments and solutions, I'm not sure his arguments would be as persuasive to those hostile to capitalism. But you can't say you can't see the implications, the relevance, to his taking on Keynesian economics and it's so-called multiplier effect and the argument government spending can act as a "balance wheel" on the economy. (*cough* "Stimulus" *cough*). Or the wasteful distortions of the economy caused by the tax evasion and tax avoidance of soak the rich taxing schemes and the case for a flat tax. Or the reasons why a commodity monetary standard such as gold is unfeasible but why the Federal Reserve is problematical. Why medical licensing may have prevented innovations in how to deliver medicine still relevant to the debate today. The argument for school vouchers and against minimum wage if you want to help the poor. And so on.
If anything this is all the more timely and relevant. In his 2002 preface Friedman points out that federal, state, and local government spending took up 26 percent of the national income in 1956, the year he gave the lectures on which this book was based. That was then. From what I just goggled, it's was at 61 percent in 2009. God knows where it stands now in 2012 after our spending binges. So yes, still very much worth reading. Some of the examples are dated (for instance, the United States now allows people to buy gold) but the principles are not.
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that called themselves liberals--that the root word of liberal is "free" and it's hardly appropriate for a defender of dynamism over the status quo to call himself conservative. He and his wife Rose were responsible for a very popular PBS series "Free to Choose" which became a bestselling book. Although as he says in his introduction, Capitalism and Freedom is also "directed at the general public" it is "more philosophical and abstract." It is very readable--some parts are dry, and a bit difficult, but nothing that makes you reach for an unabridged dictionary or that isn't comprehensible with a little work. This was first published in 1962. So this is over 50 years old. Outdated? Irrelevant? No, I found it scarily topical. Scary, because you would think its lessons would have long been learned. Granted, in me Friedman had a friendly audience who is sympathetic to free market arguments and solutions, I'm not sure his arguments would be as persuasive to those hostile to capitalism. But you can't say you can't see the implications, the relevance, to his taking on Keynesian economics and it's so-called multiplier effect and the argument government spending can act as a "balance wheel" on the economy. (*cough* "Stimulus" *cough*). Or the wasteful distortions of the economy caused by the tax evasion and tax avoidance of soak the rich taxing schemes and the case for a flat tax. Or the reasons why a commodity monetary standard such as gold is unfeasible but why the Federal Reserve is problematical. Why medical licensing may have prevented innovations in how to deliver medicine still relevant to the debate today. The argument for school vouchers and against minimum wage if you want to help the poor. And so on.
If anything this is all the more timely and relevant. In his 2002 preface Friedman points out that federal, state, and local government spending took up 26 percent of the national income in 1956, the year he gave the lectures on which this book was based. That was then. From what I just goggled, it's was at 61 percent in 2009. God knows where it stands now in 2012 after our spending binges. So yes, still very much worth reading. Some of the examples are dated (for instance, the United States now allows people to buy gold) but the principles are not.
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LibraryThing member SpaceyAcey
I like Milton Friedman. This book is very dull however, maybe because I've already heard all the arguments.
LibraryThing member antonio.velazquez
Classic book on economics and politics.
LibraryThing member gottfried_leibniz
Milton Friedman's builds his case from Freedom, He makes interesting case about a lot of different things in society. His example of Medical school unions are thought provoking, I really loved this book, there were a lot of big ideas on this book. I feel there is no simple answer but only
If you like big ideas, you like enjoy this book. However, you won't find solutions but just know his outline.
"Men are born of equal rights, not equal things." - Edmund Burke
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continuous dialogue. I felt when power gets concentrated somewhere, there is a high chance of corruption, misuse of it. I think if someone starts from Man is perfect and is able to build a perfect system, he would differ from Friedman and other followers of him. It seems that, you can easily find out the differences from each person's premise on which he build the whole model. Friedman argues a lot for freedom and says, Men ought to have freedom to prosper, they will achieve better. In this book, he goes through a lot of things, I was surprised to find schooling system, unions included. If you like big ideas, you like enjoy this book. However, you won't find solutions but just know his outline.
"Men are born of equal rights, not equal things." - Edmund Burke
Show Less
LibraryThing member gottfried_leibniz
Milton Friedman's builds his case from Freedom, He makes interesting case about a lot of different things in society. His example of Medical school unions are thought provoking, I really loved this book, there were a lot of big ideas on this book. I feel there is no simple answer but only
If you like big ideas, you like enjoy this book. However, you won't find solutions but just know his outline.
"Men are born of equal rights, not equal things." - Edmund Burke
Show More
continuous dialogue. I felt when power gets concentrated somewhere, there is a high chance of corruption, misuse of it. I think if someone starts from Man is perfect and is able to build a perfect system, he would differ from Friedman and other followers of him. It seems that, you can easily find out the differences from each person's premise on which he build the whole model. Friedman argues a lot for freedom and says, Men ought to have freedom to prosper, they will achieve better. In this book, he goes through a lot of things, I was surprised to find schooling system, unions included. If you like big ideas, you like enjoy this book. However, you won't find solutions but just know his outline.
"Men are born of equal rights, not equal things." - Edmund Burke
Show Less
LibraryThing member magonistarevolt
I read this book as part of a class on Political Thought. I had food poisoning at the time that this book was assigned, but I would have been puking even if I hadn't had those undercooked pancakes that day. This book is so full of ruling class whitewash that it is truly difficult to read.
The text,
Left out is what to do if you don't have the luxury of being able to buy choices. Left out is how these choices in fact necessitate others' oppression and their lack of freedom. Left out is any semblence of understanding of what it is to work for those choices to be available to some.
Actually, let me rephrase: Friedman mentions these points specifically on several occaisions. He then explains that it is not anyone's business how to answer these questions, all policy is to be made between stock holders and companies itself, no matter who else is affected.
When Milton Friedman died, I gave everyone I knew a high-five.
Recommended for: masochists.
The text,
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essentialized, was as follows: Capitalism offers rich people choices. These choices can be redefined as freedom. Therefore Capitalism offers freedom.Left out is what to do if you don't have the luxury of being able to buy choices. Left out is how these choices in fact necessitate others' oppression and their lack of freedom. Left out is any semblence of understanding of what it is to work for those choices to be available to some.
Actually, let me rephrase: Friedman mentions these points specifically on several occaisions. He then explains that it is not anyone's business how to answer these questions, all policy is to be made between stock holders and companies itself, no matter who else is affected.
When Milton Friedman died, I gave everyone I knew a high-five.
Recommended for: masochists.
Show Less
Awards
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1962
Physical description
230 p.; 7.9 inches
ISBN
0226264211 / 9780226264219