There Is No Such Thing As

"There is no such thing as a free lunch" is an economics proverb Friedman popularized as the title of his 1975 essay collection. The phrase, which predates Friedman (it appears in American print from the 1930s onward), captures the opportunity-cost principle: every resource used for one purpose has an alternative use forgone. Friedman used it to challenge government programs that appeared costless to recipients but imposed real costs on taxpayers or the broader economy.