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Friedman explains how markets and voluntary exchange organize activity and enable people to improve their lives. He also explains the price system.

Collection of five episodes, each features an introduction by a well-known figure followed by a documentary.

Each episode of the original 1980 Free To Choose has been revised into a timeless, 2 minute video to introduce citizens to the phylosophy and the ideas of Milton Friedman

Cato Institute Senior Fellow Johan Norberg explores pioneering ecosystems that dramatically changed our world for the better.

Building on ideas associated with Adam Smith and John Locke, Robert Lawson explains how economic freedom affects prosperity, innovation, poverty reduction, and quality of life across countries. The resource connects free-market institutions with real-world economic outcomes using data, charts, and international comparisons.

60-second animated explainer of Smith's invisible hand / self-regulating markets.

Focus: critical analasys of people's self-interest

Learn how economists reason, then follow the roles of specialization, trade, prices, profit, and institutions in a market economy.

A price acts as a message about how scarce or valuable something is. When prices go up, it tells producers to make more and consumers to use less. When prices fall, the opposite happens — without anyone giving the order.

Capitalism is a system where individuals and businesses are free to own property, make decisions, and trade voluntarily with others. Instead of a central authority controlling most economic activity, people respond to prices, incentives, and competition. Supporters argue this helps create innovation, growth, and rising living standards over time.

A free market is a system where prices, production, and trade are mostly determined by individuals and businesses making voluntary decisions rather than by government control. Companies compete for customers, and consumers decide what succeeds based on what they buy. Supporters argue this encourages innovation, efficiency, and choice.

Property rights are the rules that allow people to own, use, buy, sell, or protect their property and possessions. Supporters argue that when people know their property is secure, they are more willing to invest, build, save, and plan for the future. Property rights are considered a foundation of free societies and market economies.

Supply and demand describes how prices change based on how much of something exists and how many people want it. When demand increases or supply becomes limited, prices usually rise. When supply increases or demand falls, prices tend to drop.

Spontaneous order is the idea that complex systems can organize themselves without a single person or authority directing everything. Through individual decisions, cooperation, and shared rules, order can emerge naturally over time. Supporters often point to markets, languages, and cities as examples of spontaneous order.

Division of labor is the process of people specializing in different tasks instead of each person doing everything themselves. Specialization allows workers and businesses to become more efficient, productive, and skilled over time.

Incentives are the rewards or consequences that influence how people make decisions and behave. Economic systems, businesses, and governments all create incentives that encourage certain actions and discourage others. Many economists argue that understanding incentives is essential for understanding real-world outcomes.

The knowledge problem is the idea that no single person or central authority can fully understand all the information needed to manage a complex economy. Knowledge is spread across millions of individuals making decisions based on local conditions, prices, and personal experience.

Eighteenth-century Scottish thinker who showed how specialization and voluntary trade create prosperity without anyone planning it, founding modern economics.