Economic freedom in the United States is equated with free market capitalism, allowing individuals to engage in commerce, establish businesses, and choose their employment freely. This system encourages freedom of contract, competition, profit, and private property, culminating in free enterprise. While appealing, this economic freedom poses complex questions regarding its boundaries, such as the potential for employer exploitation, environmental pollution, and the rights of workers to strike. The concept of economic freedom is framed as negative liberty, characterized by the absence of restrictions on individual actions, contrasting with more restrictive systems like socialism or communism that limit entrepreneurial initiatives.
How the balance of power shifted, for a time, in the decades after World War II, and led to a better kind of capitalism – if you think prosperity being broadly shared is a good thing.
By John Biewen, with co-host Ellen McGirt. Interviews with Eric Rauchway and Brad DeLong. Thanks to the Studs Terkel Archive at WFMT. Story editor: Loretta Williams. Music by Michelle Osis, Lilli Haydn, Chris Westlake, Alex Symcox, and Goodnight, Lucas. Music consulting by Joe Augustine of Narrative Music. "Capitalism” is a production of the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University, in partnership with Imperative 21.