When Free to Choose is the signature publication of Northwood University. It is dedicated to promoting the global, diverse and multi-cultural nature of enterprise. Bringing lessons of the American free enterprise society directly to your inbox or mailbox, When Free to Choose features informative essays about timely issues and events, and thought-provoking point-counterpoint essays written by industry experts, faculty, scholars and researchers.
In a world of constant change, the enduring principles of The Northwood Idea remain steadfast. Personal freedom, individual responsibility and the rule of law are not relics of another era — they are the permanent foundations of a free and flourishing society. It is therefore fitting to revisit the voices and lessons that have most...
A Student View by Oliver Jarvis, Lilly Lauzon, A. Noel Tokarev, and Kristin Tokarev When Ronald Reagan took office in 1981, America was in trouble. Prices were rising by double digits on an annual basis. Interest rates? Nearly 20%. Unemployment? Persistently high. The Keynesian economists from the Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and Carter years had given...
After World War II, Germany was in ruins. Cities leveled, infrastructure destroyed, tens of millions killed or severely injured, morale shattered… The Nazi regime had left behind not only devastation, but a command-and-control economy riddled with inflation and rationing. Police forces were gutted by the Allied regime. Theft and black markets became a way of...
Deirdre McCloskey has reshaped the study of economic history by insisting that ideas, not institutions or capital, made us rich. This prolific author is one of the rare figures in modern academia whose work crosses disciplines and defies labels. Drawn as a teenager to utopian and revolutionary theories, McCloskey grew up to realize that noble...
Just 50 years ago, China was one of the poorest countries on Earth. Many of its people lived in mud-brick homes. Most were undernourished. Everyone was trapped in a rigid communist system that crushed initiative. Today, it is the world’s second-largest economy by some measures, home to gleaming megacities and the largest middle class by...
Thomas Jefferson warned us that “the natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.” The growth of government in the past century has certainly vindicated his assessment. There are multiple explanations for this, but one of the most relevant today is the tendency of emergencies, both real and imagined,...
We hear a lot these days about “equity,” “safe spaces,” and “lived experiences.” But here’s a radical idea: maybe what America really needs is more Northwood University graduates. That was the message from Dr. Kent MacDonald, President of Northwood, during a recent Freedom Seminar lecture. He didn’t talk about victimhood or virtue-signaling. He talked about...
Artificial intelligence is here. It is learning fast, and it is already changing the ways we live our lives. For a lot of people, that change causes a lot of uncertainty when it comes to their careers. There is talk that AI is eliminating jobs, but that statement avoids the true impact: Artificial intelligence is...
This Independence Day, America’s Free Enterprise University marked an exciting milestone: Learners who complete The Philosophy of Free Enterprise, Northwood’s complimentary, self-paced online course, can now earn a Certificate of Completion. Launched in 2022, the course now offers 18 engaging lessons featuring easily digestible lectures about timeless free-market concepts, including the importance of limited government,...
The 2025 Northwood University Freedom Seminar will survey the two alternative paths that humanity tried over the past century: the road to serfdom and the road to freedom. The first was examined by the Austrian economist F. A. Hayek, who chose it as a title to a book that exposed the economic bankruptcy, political dangers,...
With the rise of populist skepticism about international trade, claims have resurfaced asserting that restricting imports will create jobs, that trade deficits are a subsidy to foreigners, that tariffs generate tax revenue, and that tariffs serve as a strategic negotiating tool. But most of these claims are economically flawed and often contradict each other. The...
The Three Mile Island meltdown was the worst American commercial nuclear accident in our nation’s history. Yet at the same time, it is the only commercial nuclear accident in U.S. history, with no one being physically harmed and the plant remaining operational. Primarily, this can be attributed to the creation of the Institute of Nuclear...
Why does the Spangler Candy Company make its famous Dum Dum Lollipops in Bryan, Ohio, and its candy canes down in Juarez, Mexico? The answer to that question has a lot to teach us about the hidden costs of protectionist policies. It starts with the influence of the American Sugar Lobby, which contributes millions of...
The following Student View by Barrett Tefft, Anthony Storer, and Alexander “Noel” Tokarev appears in the April 2025 When Free to Choose, a signature publication by Northwood University. Some see immigration as a human right. If that’s true, we need open borders. Others say the failure of the previous administration to stop the flow of...