Robert Chitester on Milton Friedman and Free to Choose

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Library of Economics and Liberty

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4.7 • 4.4K Ratings

🗓️ 14 September 2020

⏱️ 65 minutes

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Summary

Once upon a time, a man had an idea for a documentary on free-market ideas. Then that man was introduced to Milton Friedman. The result of their collaboration was a wildly successful book and PBS series, Free to Choose, capturing Friedman's view of the world, how markets work, and the role of individual liberty in free-market economies. The man behind that documentary, Robert Chitester, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about how that documentary came about and Chitester's long-time friendship and work with Milton and Rose Friedman.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Econ Talk, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty.
0:08.0	I'm your host, Russ Roberts of Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
0:12.0	Our website is econtalk.org, where you can subscribe, comment on this podcast,
0:17.0	and find links and other information related to today's conversation.
0:21.0	We'll also find our archives where you can listen to every episode we've ever done going back to 2006.
0:27.0	Our email address is mailadycontalk.org. We'd love to hear from you.
0:33.0	Today is August 27th, 2020. My guest is Robert Chittester.
0:37.0	Bob is an educational entrepreneur and filmmaker who has spent most of his career creating video resources
0:44.0	to help people understand market economies and the power of economic liberty.
0:48.0	With Milton and Rose Friedman, he created the acclaimed PBS series, Free to Choose.
0:54.0	He created the Idea Channel, an archive of over 200 interviews with leading scholars, including F.A. Hyak, Norman Borlaug, Thomas Solenjane's Buchanan.
1:04.0	He created Isit, I.C.I.T. Isit.org, which produces resources for teachers in the classroom.
1:12.0	Bob, welcome to econtalk.
1:15.0	It's a delight to be here, Russ, and compliment you on your ongoing efforts with econtalk.
1:21.0	Very important. Thank you. Do what I can.
1:24.0	You began your career in public television.
1:27.0	How did you end up working with Milton Friedman?
1:30.0	Oh, boy. Well, I'm going to try to keep my answers as short as possible.
1:35.0	But I want to start though with me in college.
1:41.0	I enrolled at the University of Michigan in their engineering department.
1:47.0	Because in high school, I was sharp enough that, for example, an algebra.
1:53.0	I can mainly figure out what the answers were.
	...

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