On the public choice elements, Friedman is explicit about the “fresh approach to political science” that informs the effort in Free to Choose (ix-x). That perspective is one much closer to the Hayekian focus on knowledge acquisition and utilization through the competitive market, and the Buchanan focus on constitutional level of analysis and the importance of the institutional framework. In my reading, rather than a water-downed and more popular treatment of the material from Capitalism and Freedom, Free to Choose reflects a slightly different perspective. I just want to ask about the economic argument, and ask about the subtle differences between Capitalism and Freedom and Free to Choose. I am putting aside the great impact that Ayn Rand had, or that of Murray Rothbard, Robert Nozick, Richard Epstein, etc. But that was then, and this is now, so there probably are some readers of BHL (like me) for whom Free to Choose was in fact a pivotal text in their introduction to free market ideas and the philosophy of limited government. Since all of my teachers and mentors in classical liberalism came to their position well before 1980, they did not see Free to Choose as a transformational work, but instead as at best a popularization of ideas they had already come to accept. I agree it is a powerful book, I just think Free to Choose is one of the best books I ever read in economics. I always disagreed with the assessment that Capitalism and Freedom was the superior book from an academic perspective. See I grew into a classical liberal/libertarian movement where all my elders were influenced either by The Road to Serfdom (1944), or Capitalism and Freedom (1962) well before they ever read Free to Choose (1980). Instead, I want to ask readers to think of a different question. I am not going to dispute the vital importance of the climate of opinion and how politics is shaped within the constraints of the prevailing ideological climate to a considerable extent. This might even be Friedman’s preferred explanation as it is consistent with the “tide of ideas” approach to social change. One way to make this claim is to suggest that Capitalism and Freedom was so successful at influencing thought leaders that by the time Free to Choose was published the intellectual elite was more receptive to the ideas.

Among economists of a certain generation, they find Capitalism and Freedom the more tightly reasoned book, and explain the impact difference on a general shift of the climate of opinion.

But Free to Choose was an international sensation when it was published in 1980. Capitalism and Freedom was published in 1962 without much fanfare, though it has since stood the test of time.

Free to choose 1980