They (free markets) are competitive, but they are competitive over a broad range. The question is, how do you make money in a free market? You only make money if you can provide someone with something he or she is willing to pay for. You can't make money any other way. Therefore, in order to make money, you have to promote cooperation. You have to do something that your customer wants you to do. You don't do it because he orders you to. You don't do it because he threatens to hit you over the head if you don't. You do it because you offer him a better deal than he can get anywhere else. Now that's promoting cooperation. But there are other people who are trying to sell to him, too. They're your competitors. So there is competition among sellers, but cooperation between sellers and buyers.
That's Milton Friedman in this conversation with Larry Arnn, Hillsdale College president. They cover middle eastern despotism, what the first step after the invasion of Iraq should have been, the socialistic/communistic way that health care is distribtuted in the US, the causes of the Great Depression, the market for education, and, among other things, what self-interest is:
Yes, self-interest is what the individual wants. Mother Teresa, to take one example, operated on a completely self-interested basis. Self-interest does not mean narrow self-interest. Self-interest does not mean monetary self-interest. Self-interest means pursuing those things that are valuable to you but which you can also persuade others to value. Such things very often go beyond immediate material interest.
All in all, a fascinating interview of a fascinating man.
HT to Policy Guy.