In Capitalism and Freedom, Equality and Efficiency and Everything for Sale the three authors Friedman, Okun and Kuttner each explained their opinion on the role of the market and government in generating an efficient, equal and free society.
Friedman's View.
Milton Friedman the author of Capitalism and Freedom is an advocate of the free market. In a free market capitalism and freedom can be achieved. Friedman is against government intervention, he believes most of the time government intervention exacerbates problems rather than resolving them. Throughout his book, Friedman uses many examples in different areas of economics to show us the failure of government intervention.
Milton Friedman introduces the idea that there is no fundamental difference between economic freedom and political freedom. Taking away one's political freedom would be also taking away the economic freedom of that person. Without economic freedom there can be no political freedom. History has showed that capitalism is a necessary condition for political freedom and that economic freedom and political freedom can only coexist in capitalism. .
Friedman points out that only a free market economy can coordinate economic activities of millions of people while still granting individual freedom. In the words of the author, "Co-operation is thereby achieved without coercion." (p.13) In a free market every man has the right to choose, but on issues such as national defense, it would not be possible to accommodate the desire of each man since some might want more defense and some less. In these areas where the market cannot resolve a good solution or it would be too expensive for market to resolve a sound decision, government intervention is applied though government intervention always affects social cohesion negatively. .
Throughout his book Milton Friedman illustrates through various examples that government intervention often exacerbates problems rather than solving them.