Critique of Milton and Rose Friedman, Free to Choose.

Essay question: Milton Friedmans 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, Â… 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†¦show more content†¦The price system is hailed as the ultimate mechanism for voluntary exchange, the Friedmans say that you dont need to speak to one another or even like one another for it to work. This seems to give a very mechanical and stock price sort of view without any human feeling to it. For example, you can just trade things and make money even if the person is Saddam Hussein. In terms of ethics this sort of trading does not rate very highly. When you buy your pencil or your daily bread, you dont know whether the pencil was made or the wheat grown was grown by a white man or a black man, by a Chinese or an Indian. Does it matter then if the pencil was made by a five year old boy who should be at school? Of course it does. Does it matter if the workers get five cents an hour for growing wheat and the foreign owned company makes an enormous profit off the workers? Yes that matters too. The Friedmans dont state any ethical considerations in their assumption. In terms of market efficiency, the Friedmans portray some of the workers as dumb and perhaps naà ¯ve. Some among them never saw a pencil and would not know what it is for. How could you not know what a pencil is for or what you are making? This possibly raises exploitation questions and how young and educated these workers are. Child labour does still exist too this day. In a book about slavery there is a story about a young boy called Fernando.Show MoreRelatedOrganizational Behaviour Analysis28615 Words   |  115 Pagesalthough seldom examined directly in the literatures. If you are looking for a good handle to unite the whole workshop this theme is probably one of the best. Consideration of what generates or undermines trust can help you to generate your own critiques of the literatures and theories of organisation. 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