Free To Choose

The numbers don't lie: In economically free countries, even the poorest 10% earn $14,000 annually. In restricted economies? Just $1,700. Professor Robert Lawson from SMU's Bridwell Institute for Economic Freedom brings hard data to settle one of history's biggest economic…

Milton Friedman on the root cause of inflation: It's always about the money supply. The Fed let it collapse by a third during the Great Depression—disaster. They learned that lesson, but then made the opposite error: expanding the money supply too aggressively. The fundamental…

When Estonia broke free from Soviet rule in 1992, the newly independent nation faced catastrophic challenges: 1000% inflation, economic collapse, and widespread shortages. Their solution? A 32-year-old prime minister who had read exactly one economics book—Milton Friedman's Free…

Recorded in 1998, Dennis McCuistion, former Clinical Professor of Corporate Governance and Executive Director of the Institute for Excellence in Corporate Governance at the University of Texas at Dallas hosts a discussion about three distinct ideological frameworks with CPAE…

Knowledge doesn't come from getting everything right the first time—it comes from the freedom to be wrong. Without the ability to challenge, question, and yes, even offend, we can't separate good ideas from bad ones. This Banned Books Week, we're reminded that protecting the…

Defense spending reaches far beyond the Pentagon. From technicians at Tobyhanna Army Depot to small towns that depend on nearby bases, military dollars create an economic ecosystem most Americans never see. Coming November 1! Watch the complete trailer for The True Cost of…

"Robber barons." We've all heard the term. Ruthless monopolists. Men who built fortunes by exploiting workers and crushing competitors. But what if the entire story is backward? The real story of the Gilded Age isn't about exploitation. It's about capitalism creating an era of…

Book banning isn't new. In 1982, a school board in New York pulled books from library shelves because they didn't like the ideas inside. Students fought back, and the case went all the way to the Supreme Court in Island Trees School District v. Pico. The court ruled that school…

When unemployment rises, governments feel pressure to "do something"—print money, spend more, stimulate the economy. It works temporarily—until people realize what's happening. Then the increased money supply reveals itself as inflation.

Change takes time—and courage. Milton Friedman understood that shifting public opinion is only the first step. The real challenge? Getting people to act on what they claim to believe. Ideas don't implement themselves. Someone has to do the work, weather the criticism, and push…

What if workplace safety wasn't about government inspectors and checklists, but about making manufacturers pay—literally—for every accident? What would Milton have said? From the archives, here is a short clip from “Testing Milton Friedman,” our 2012 program discussing Milton’s…

What does America's defense really cost? Not just the $800 billion price tag you see in headlines. The True Cost of Defense premieres November 1 on public television. See the human stories behind the world's most powerful military machine—from the moment a recruiter walks into a…

Behind every defense contract and Pentagon budget line is a story worth telling. "The True Cost of Defense" takes you beyond the numbers to meet the people who serve—and asks the hard questions about what we're really paying for. Coming November 1.

"The automatic effects of inflation" - Milton Friedman explains how your taxes rise without Congress voting, then politicians get praised for tiny "cuts." Net result: you still pay more.

You've probably heard politicians and pundits argue that we need more cooperation and less competition in our economy. But what if this presents a completely false choice? When you walk into a grocery store, thousands of people you've never met have cooperated to stock those…

A building with one support beam is an engineering disaster waiting to happen. The same principle applies to power. When everything depends on a single decision-maker getting it right, one mistake can bring down the whole system. But spread that responsibility across thousands…

Recorded in 1998, Dennis McCuistion, former Clinical Professor of Corporate Governance and Executive Director of the Institute for Excellence in Corporate Governance at the University of Texas at Dallas speaks with philosopher and author Leonard Peikoff about Objectivism, Ayn…

The balance between helping and empowering. What role does meaningful work play in human well-being? What is the human cost of welfare?

A powerful moment from our upcoming documentary that puts defense spending in stark perspective: "What you don't spend in deterring wars, you have to spend in fighting them. And once you're fighting them, that means lives lost and lives ruined." "The True Cost of Defense"…

Throwing money at problems rarely solves them—whether it's education, healthcare, or national defense. Thomas Sowell reminds us that effectiveness isn't measured by how much we spend, but by how intelligently we spend it. True strength comes from strategic thinking, not just…