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Capitalism and freedom?

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  • Pryor, Frederic L.

Abstract

This essay tests Milton Friedman's conjecture that capitalism is a necessary condition for political freedom. For the decade around 2000 indices of the degree of capitalism and the degree of political freedom are highly correlated and provide plausibility for Friedman's conjecture. In looking at changes over time in the nineteenth century, however, the analysis refutes Friedman's conjecture. These apparently contradictory results are reconciled by showing that both capitalism and freedom are related to such variables as the educational level of the population so that, although not causally tied, they are correlated in a cross-national comparison.

Suggested Citation

  • Pryor, Frederic L., 2010. "Capitalism and freedom?," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 91-104, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecosys:v:34:y:2010:i:1:p:91-104
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    Cited by:

    1. Marta Marson & Matteo Migheli & Donatella Saccone, 2021. "New evidence on the link between ethnic fractionalization and economic freedom," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 257-292, September.
    2. Bjørnskov, Christian, 2018. "The Hayek–Friedman hypothesis on the press: is there an association between economic freedom and press freedom?," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(4), pages 617-638, August.
    3. Aurolipsa Das & Narayan Sethi, 2023. "Modelling the environmental pollution-institutional quality nexus in low- and middle-income countries: exploring the role of financial development and educational level," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 1492-1518, February.
    4. Tausch, Arno, 2015. "Hofstede, Inglehart and beyond. New directions in empirical global value research," MPRA Paper 64282, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 11 May 2015.
    5. Kapás, Judit & Czeglédi, Pál, 2011. "Gazdasági szabadság, politikai szabadság és a társadalmi rendek [Economic freedom, political freedom, and social orders]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(6), pages 485-510.
    6. Ryan H. Murphy, 2019. "Governance and the dimensions of autocracy," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 30(2), pages 131-148, June.
    7. Judit Kapás & Pál Czeglédi, 2018. "Social orders, and a weak form of the Hayek–Friedman Hypothesis," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 65(3), pages 291-328, September.

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