Free To Choose by Milton Friedman

From The Week of November 29, 2009

I doubt there will ever be a book that has a greater impact upon my way of thinking than Free to Choose by Milton Friedman. Capitalism and Freedom was sufficient as an introduction to basic economics and the relationship it has with public policy, but there was something overly dry and intellectual about that text which prevented it from coming to life in my hands, or my mind. Whom do I have to thank for the passion in Free to Choose, the passion that animates Mr. Friedman's philosophies, the passion which brings the full might of his libertarian guns to bear upon the inconsistencies of the modern mixed economy and its eagerness to grow at all costs? His wife? For she has co-authored this wonderful text with him. Or is it the 18 years that passed between the publication of his two most important books? Whoever's responsible, they have my gratitude.

Humans are motivated by self-interest. To pretend otherwise only leads to folly and disappointment. At root, Mr. Friedman's philosophy is just as simple. An economy which is open and unregulated, and which is not burdened by overly complicated rules, will inevitably be successful and more fair than any economy regulated by government. Why?

Because every attempt at regulation, every stab at reform, changes the rules of the game. It tries to right a perceived wrong and, in doing so, creates a new set of rules, with a new set of loopholes, which will have unintended consequences for the whole. Empower the Food and Drug Administration as a result of a scandal over bottled medicine? Watch as it is corrupted, inside and out, by special interests willing to pay for preferential treatment, willing to lobby for certain drugs, willing to work for any competitive advantage. Create the Interstate Commerce Commission to regulate railways and institute fair rates? Watch as its commissioners are consumed by money from the rail lobby until the Commission is a tool of the very corporations it was established to constrain. In example after example, Mr. Friedman points out how good intentions are perverted by the hunger of human self-interest which is all the proof anyone needs to conclude that regulation, at least in its current form, is irresponsible. Unless everyone is playing by the same rules, with the same advantages and disadvantages, the game will never be fair.

This is a powerful, compelling work. It has not convinced me that public policy has no role to play in a free market economy, but it has convinced me that the law of unintended consequences is rarely if ever considered by the governments who implement social programs they are ill-equipped to execute. Much more thought has to go into these programs if they are to be woven into the free market economy. (5/5 Stars)