Testing Milton Friedman

2012 is the 100th anniversary of Milton Friedman's birth. His work and ideas continue to make the world a better place. As part of Milton Friedman's Century, the ideas featured in the landmark television series Free To Choose are being revisited in a new 3-part PBS broadcast. Testing Milton Friedman, hosted by award-winning veteran journalist Emily Rooney with a distinguished panel of two Friedman advocates and two challengers, presents a lively discussion and debate on Friedman's still-provocative ideas in each of these hour-long programs. Special emphasis is placed on the relevance of his ideas in view of the current world economic situation. The episodes are as follows: Equality of Opportunity - the panelists explore Friedman's ideas and the possible implications of equality of opportunity and equality of outcome. The panelists include: Walter Williams - author, syndicated columnist, and the John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics at George Mason University; Shikha Dalmia - senior policy analyst at Reason Foundation; Matthew Yglesias - political blogger; John Bouman - president and advocacy director of the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law. Government Control - a discussion of what can occur when legislators, often in collusion with big business, intervene in the market. This program features: Amity Shlaes - author and syndicated columnist and a director at the George W. Bush Institute; Bryan Caplan - professor of economics at George Mason University, research fellow at the Mercatus Center and author; Austan Goolsbee - former chief economist for President Obama's Economic Recovery Advisory Board, a member of the Obama cabinet and professor of economics at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business; Clarence Page - Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist from the Chicago Tribune. Free Markets - the panel discusses the classic explanations and demonstrations of the workings and benefits of a free market and economic freedom. The panelists are: Kevin Murphy - George J. Stigler Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution; Raghuram Rajan - Eric J. Gleacher Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business and an economic advisor to the Prime Minister of India; Dani Rodrik - author and professor of international political economy at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government; Brad DeLong - professor of economics at the University of California at Berkeley and Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Clinton administration.