Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Every benefit involves a cost, even if not immediately visible.
In plain terms
Nothing is truly free; someone pays the price.
What can you take from it?
Always consider hidden costs.

Where it applies

  • financial decisions
  • policy evaluation
  • personal budgeting

Putting it to work

  • budgeting
  • cost-benefit analysis

Questions to consider

  • Who pays the price?
  • What are the hidden costs?

Another view

Sometimes externalities make true costs hard to measure.

More from Milton Friedman

  1. There is no logical basis for the prohibition of marijuana. $7.7 billion is a lot of money, but that is one of the lesser evils. Our failure to successfully en…

    Permalink to quote #53
  2. Everybody loves to argue with Milton, particularly when he isn't there.

    Permalink to quote #55
  3. So long as large sums of money are involved - and they are bound to be if drugs are illegal - it is literally impossible to stop the traffic, or even to make a…

    Permalink to quote #52

Related quotes

  1. Is that to say we are against Free Trade? No, we are for Free Trade, because by Free Trade all economical laws, with their most astounding contradictions, will…

    Karl MarxKarl Marx quote #1
  2. But man has almost constant occasion for the help of his brethren, and it is in vain for him to expect it from their benevolence only. He will be more likely t…

    Adam SmithAdam Smith quote #2
  3. Now cheaply bought for thrice their weight in gold.

    John FerriarJohn Ferriar quote #2