Free to Choose: A Personal Statement, by Milton and Rose Friedman - Essay Example

The book has explained the causes of erosion of our freedom and also suggested some remedies. The Friedmans in order to articulate the indispensability of the market economy in a free society has incorporated free market principle and Jefferson’s Declaration in their attempt to argue for it. It has been pointed out in this book that the phenomenal success of the United States, coined as an “economic miracle and political miracle” (Friedman & Friedman, 1) has been possible due to the amalgamation of both Adam Smith and Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence.

The commendable performance of the American economy can be attributed to the economic and political freedom and not mere by directions from the government. The book has showed that unlike the traditional belief that “failure of free market mechanism” (Friedman 7 Friedman, 5) is responsible for the Great Depressions, government failure in money where it exercised authority is responsible. Milton Friedman was a renowned American economist and statistician. He was honored with the noble prize for his contribution to economics in 1976.

Friedman’s contribution to economics ranges from quantity theory of money to Philip’s Curve but his contribution in the field of monetary economics has been praised the most. He is also known for his works in other issues like tax policy, theory of consumption function and price regulation. As his works have an element of monetarists value and classical ideals it has successfully reached beyond the division of academic and public. Friedman had authored many books and through his books he had expressed his opinions (“Milton Friedman”).

Rose Friedman was born in 1911 and she was a free market economist. In her early career in economics research she had made consumer spending data which was later seen Milton Friedman’s book “A Theory of the Consumption Function.” Rose had met Milton Friedman in the year 1932 when they were graduating from University of Chicago and six years later they got married. She had also completed her PhD from the same university. The couple together had written “Free to choose” (1980), “The Tyranny of the Status Quo (1982), and “Two Lucky People (1998).

The couple had always voiced their opinion for free market mechanism in their writings. Together the couple had also laid the foundation of the Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation. The aim of this foundation is to promote the concept of freedom of choice in education (Weber). The authors belong to the “network of economists” at the Chicago University and the work Free to Choose is a relatively familiar work presenting everything is clear and perceptible manner. It is a more general work on capitalism and democracy rather than specific to economic indicators.

According to Smith, Freidman’s work was “unsympathetic to the political programmes which attempted to implement egalitarian measures” (Smith 169) At this point I agree with Smith. Bernanke (2002) wonderfully explains Friedman’s work with respect to monetary policy as “Hippocratic principle for monetary policy”, that is, “First, do no harm”. Friedman’s description of money and its potentiality of doing any harm when it goes out of order have been analyzed in this context. The authors in this book said