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Critique Of Milton And Rose Friedman, "Free To Choose."

Essay question: Milton Friedman's claims that ‘voluntary exchange is a necessary condition for both prosperity and freedom.' Carefully examine the assumptions about ‘power', ‘choice' and ‘market efficiency' that underpin his claim. Give reasons for your agreement or disagreement with him.

This essay is a short critique of the theory by Milton and Rose Friedman, "Free to choose: A personal statement", focusing on chapter 1. I will argue that Friedman is right in saying, "… voluntary exchange is a necessary condition for both prosperity and freedom" but that there are shortcomings in his theory. Voluntary exchange is defined as a trade of something which is done with both persons consent. For instance a problem with the theory Milton Friedman expresses through voluntary exchange is; how voluntary is a voluntary exchange when looked at in certain conditions. I will attempt to show that the prosperity and freedom promised by Friedman's theory has not been achieved by everyone. Friedman has many shortcomings and this essay will outline and criticise them, focusing mainly on his assumption of power, choice and market efficiency. This essay also addresses the issues of globalisation, as this is a concept also talked about by Friedman in his essay and is also relevant in neoliberal theory. Neoliberal theory is, "an updated version of classical political economy that is dedicated to market individualism and minimal statism." As I point out in the essay these dedications are not thoroughly adhered to by businesses for which this theory is supposed to entail. The first topic will be on choice followed by power and market efficiency. Andrew Heywood says of Milton Friedman, "The free-market view, advanced by theorists such as Hayek and Friedman, holds that general prosperity is best achieved by a system of unregulated capitalism." This essay also hopes to prove that this assumption is false.
Milton Friedman is a free market economist who attacks...

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