Free to Choose by {author}: summary and why it matters

What it argues

The book follows the Friedmans' PBS series and makes the case in everyday language. They start with the power of the market, using the pencil as an example of cooperation among strangers who never meet, and the anatomy of a crisis, with attention to the Great Depression and to the Federal Reserve's part in it.

Later chapters take on the tyranny of the status quo, the cradle-to-grave welfare state, what is wrong with American schools, who protects the consumer and the worker, and the tide of inflation. The authors argue that the best protection of consumers and workers is competition, and that regulation too often serves the regulated.

The closing chapters describe a swing of opinion toward limiting government and propose constitutional constraints on taxing and spending.

Why it matters

The book reached a broad audience as the economic mood turned in the late 1970s, and it supplied talking points for the Reagan and Thatcher era. It remains a good example of how to explain economics to non-specialists without talking down to them.

Some of its predictions and policy claims have been contested since, which is part of the interest of reading it with a historian's eye.

About the author

Milton Friedman and his wife Rose, an economist in her own right, wrote the book alongside the ten-part television series of the same name, which was produced by Robert Chitester and first aired on public television in 1980. The series was filmed on location and included debates with critics. The book was the best-selling nonfiction title in the United States in 1980.

Who should read it

Newcomers to economics, teachers and anyone assigned to argue the free-market side of a debate.