The image most people will retain of Friedman is the smiling, diminutive, unassuming professor holding up a pencil in front of the cameras in “Free to Choose” to illustrate the power of markets. It took thousands of people all over the world to make this pencil, Friedman said – to mine the graphite, cut the wood, assemble the components, and market the final product. No single central authority coordinated their actions; that feat was accomplished by the magic of free markets and the price system.
More than 30 years later, there is an interesting coda to the pencil story (which in fact was based on an article by the economist Leonard E. Read). Today, most of the world’s pencils are produced in China – an economy that is a peculiar mix of private entrepreneurship and state direction.
What would Friedman think of the turn that the global division of labor has taken?
Read the full column here.
right after i read the story "I, pencil" in "Free to choose," I thought "How about I write a story called 'I, computer,' or 'I, internet'?"
Posted by: Andrew Lee | October 11, 2011 at 06:48 PM
He'd be thrilled, because the pencils are of lower quality, environmental standards are lower, and workers are more likely to be abused. Like all conservatives, his intelligence was put to work masking his selfishness and sadism.
Posted by: Kimmitt | October 13, 2011 at 12:44 PM
Great article Professor. I'm from Argentina. I love Friedman point of view. I think the only thing he missed was that Humans are the worst missery on earth. The problem isn't the Free Market System. The problem is the ambitious people who make people work for pennys, waste natural resources just to make themself wealth bigger. I think that the key in economic is in the Human psychology. Free Maket is a perfect system: Adaptable, Extensible, that can get over most difficult crisis. Sorry for my english! Best regards.
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