"How can we benefit from the promise of government while avoiding the threats it can pose to individual freedom? In this classic book, Milton Friedman answers this question with the definitive statement of his immensely influential economic philosophy, one in which competitive capitalism - the organization of the bulk of economic activity through private enterprise operating in a free market - serves as both a device for achieving economic freedom and a necessary condition for political freedom. In the process, he outlines the role that government should play in a society dedicated to freedom and relying primarily on the market to organize economic activity. ". "Friedman begins with a discussion of the principles of a truly liberal society. He then applies those principles to a range of pressing problems, including monetary policy, discrimination, education, income distribution, welfare, and poverty. The result is a clear and accessible book that has sold well over half a million copies in English, has been translated into eighteen languages, and shows every sign of becoming more and more influential, especially as more and more governments turn from highly planned economies to embrace free-market economics. And for this edition, Friedman adds a preface discussing different forms of freedom - political, economic, and civil - and considering how recent events, like the reunification of Germany and the collapse of the Soviet Union, have changed the climate of economic opinion throughout the world. "--BOOK JACKET.