Skip to content

Milton Friedman on Regulation, licensing, and bureaucracy

Other kinds of regulations, particularly regulations on personal behavior, have gone up. It's social control that has been taking the place of narrow economic control. ( … ) They're not a threat to the free market. They're a threat to human freedom.
Commanding Heights: Milton Friedman interview
Interview, 2000, PBS, “Where We Stand Today,” interview conducted October 1, 2000
Checked against the sourceRead the transcriptCite this passage

Where this comes from

Checked against the sourceThe wording was checked against the work itself.

Topics

He also said

  1. The most important single central fact about a free market is that no exchange takes place unless both parties benefit.
    Commanding Heights: Milton Friedman interview
    Interview, 2000, PBS, “The Economic Logic Behind Black Markets,” interview conducted October 1, 2000
    Checked against the sourceRead the transcript
  2. Well, the way in which many economists have implicitly reconciled it is by being in favor of the free market in general and opposed to the free market in particular. This area is a special case. It needs regulation. This area is a special case. You know, the same thing happens to businessmen. Every businessman is in favor of private enterprise. Except for himself.
    The Open Mind
    Interview, 1977, The Open Mind, hosted by Richard Heffner, Episode “A Nobel Laureate on the American Economy” (May 3, 1977)
    Checked against the sourceWatch it
  3. The threat to public schools arises from their defects, not their accomplishments. In small, closely knit communities where public schools, particularly elementary schools, are now reasonably satisfactory, not even the most comprehensive voucher plan would have much effect. The public schools would remain dominant, perhaps somewhat improved by the threat of potential competition. But elsewhere, and particularly in the urban slums where the public schools are doing such a poor job, most parents would undoubtedly try to send their children to nonpublic schools.
    Free to Choose
    Book, 1980, Ch. 6 “What’s Wrong with Our Schools”, p. 170
    Not yet checked

Think this quote is wrong, misattributed, or missing context?Report it and it gets fixed, not argued with.