Articles
Job Loss Fears in the First Years of Generative Artificial Intelligence
Economics Working Paper 26125
August 31, 2026
Published October 5, 2021
Many are opposed to capitalism because they believe it emphasizes self-interest in a narrow way. But by looking at the results of capitalism, it’s clear that is not how things truly are. In places where capitalism has prevailed over long periods there is both freedom and prosperity.
Discussion Questions:
- What are the results of capitalism? What are the results of socialism?
- Why are capitalism and freedom so closely linked?
Additional resources:
- Watch as Milton Friedman discusses socialism and capitalism. Available here: https://bit.ly/3ztgtSV.
- To learn more about the free market, read “The Future of Capitalism,” by Milton Friedman. Available here: https://hvr.co/3BHtnxe
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Listen as Russ Roberts and Milton Friedman discuss capitalism and freedom. Available here: https://bit.ly/2QPoJM8.
Capitalism is a system of organization that relies on private property and voluntary exchange.
It has repelled people – it drives them away from supporting it because they have thought it emphasized self-interest in a narrow way, because they were repelled by the idea of people pursuing their own interests rather than some broader interests.
Yet if you look at the results, it’s clear that the results go the other way around.
It’s in the capitalist societies of the world – one where capitalism has prevailed over long periods have you had both freedom and prosperity.
The greatest measures of freedom… if you look at the Western countries where freedom prevails, it doesn’t prevail perfectly – we all have our defects – but by and on the large, few would deny that in the United States, in Great Britain, in France, in Germany, in Western Europe, we have a greater degree of freedom on an individual and personal level than you do in most other places around the world.