The New Economic Freedom

Abstract

The evolution from industrial to technological economies has made creativity a complement, not a substitute, for productivity. Thus, creative activity is not only intrinsically valuable as a form of self-expression, but also instrumentally valuable as a tool for enhancing our standard of living. This change requires a reformulation of economic freedom. The new economic freedom embraces the rights that stimulate creativity and innovation in the economy. It therefore embraces some of the positive freedoms emphasized by the political left, such as health, education, and basic security, and some of the negative rights emphasized by the political right, such as property, contract, and enterprise. Both sides of the left-right spectrum should embrace economic freedom as the freedom to create and innovate, while disagreeing about the legal forms it might take.