Free To Choose

Milton Friedman

In 1980, renowned economist, Milton Friedman produced and aired a television series called Free To Choose.  This series, as well as an updated series (1990), is available in it's complete  at http://www.freetochoose.tv.  In this series, taped 31 years ago, Dr. Friedman tackles many of the same issues that we face, and hotly debate today, including: free markets, government interventionism, the welfare state, equal rights, consumer protection, labor relations and many more.

The original 1980 Series consisted of ten, hour long episodes.  The first half of each episode was a film put together by Friedman on a given topic.  In these films, he traveled around the world to show examples of policies, practices and their effect on the population and economy.  The second half of the episodes are discussions with a panel of people who have expertise, from both sides of the debate, on the topic(s) covered.  Both the films and the panel discussions are very educational.

Series Titles:

Volume 1 - The Power of the Market
Volume 2 - The Tyranny of Control
Volume 3 - Anatomy of Crisis
Volume 4 - From Cradle to Grave
Volume 5 - Created Equal
Volume 6 - What's Wrong with our Schools
Volume 7 - Who Protects the Consumer?
Volume 8 - Who Protects the Worker
Volume 9 - How to Cure Inflation
Volume 10 - How to Stay Free

While Friedman's theories of economics are not universally accepted, by the Left or the Right, he was very influential in shaping of economic thought in the 1970s, 80s and beyond.   In this series, he offers a very understandable coverage of the topics and a cogent defense of his positions.  Regardless of your beliefs on the subjects covered, this series is worth watching...if you can keep an open mind.