In a creepy scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 film, The Birds, Melanie (Tippi Hendren) is waiting outside a school to pick up a student. Behind her, crows begin amassing on the playground equipment. When she finally turns and sees them, pletely unnerved – and eventually, as she helps the children evacuate the school, the birds attack. Fifty-plus years onward, there’s a new ornithological thriller but it’s not playing at your local theatre. Just log on to Twitter and watch the...

The advent of 2019 has many wondering what kind of world will emerge in the next many years. Predictions of disruptive, technological change, and the transfer of geopolitical power abound. A recent report by the Hoover Institute specifically analyzes what kind of political, economic, and technological trends will form on the continent of Africa, given the shifting sands of our times. One portion of the report pays particular attention to African governance. Given that governance is a key ingredient to...

On this episode of Radio Free Acton, Caroline Roberts speaks with Stephen Nichols, the president of Reformation Bible College, about the life and work of Francis Schaeffer, 20th century protestant evangelist. After that, host Bruce Edward Walker talks about Netflix’s new series, “Watership Down,” with John Ehrett, writer, attorney and editor at the Conciliar Post. Check out these additional resources on this week’s podcast topics: Buy “Schaeffer: On the Christian Life by William Edgar” Learn more about Schaeffer’s contribution to...

A review of “The Point of It All: A Lifetime of Great Loves and Endeavors” by Charles Krauthammer, edited by Daniel Krauthammer, Crown Forum, NY, 2018, 360 pp., $28. Among the many voices of contemporary quiet reason in the public square, Charles Krauthammer most certainly ranked in the higher echelon. When he announced his impending death in June 2018, it was assumed correctly that his silence would be deafening. Who else could so passionately yet so remarkably rise to persuade...

As we continue to confront a range of top-down efforts to manage and manipulate prices, whether through tariffs, subsidies, or government-directed wage controls, much of the surrounding debate tends to focus on arbitrary notions about “just prices” and “the balance of economic power.” What’s less discussed is the actual function of prices in a free economy, and what’s truly at stake if we forget or neglect it. Most simply, prices are signals for service, giving us critical information about human...

In 1982, Venezuela was the richest major economy in Latin America. Now, it’s the most dangerous country in the world, behind Afghanistan and war torn South Sudan. This is socialism. Venezuela’s downturn is the result of decades of political upheaval and implementation of socialist policies from Hugo Chavez and now to Nicolas Maduro. Today, Venezuelans are taking to the streets to march in what many think will be the largest anti-government demonstration that has taken place in the past few...

Note: This is post #107 in a weekly video series on basic economics. In the last post in this series we learned that according to the quantity theory of money, if the amount of money in an economy doubles the price levels also double, causinginflation. The consumer, therefore, pays twice as much for the same amount of the good or service. Can we put this theory to the test? In this video, Alex Tabarrok of Marginal Revolution University looks at...

CNN: “The top 26 billionaires own $1.4 trillion — as much as 3.8 billion other people” Time magazine: “The World’s Top 26 Billionaires Now Own as Much as the Poorest 3.8 Billion, Says Oxfam” The Guardian: “World’s 26 richest people own as much as poorest 50%, says Oxfam” You’ve probably seen these headlines—or ones like them—in articles about economic inequality. You might have even assumed the claim must be somewhat revealing about global inequality. But it isn’t. In reality, such...

No one following the news could have missed the media’s misguided hysteria over students from Covington Catholic High School allegedly surrounding and taunting an American Indian activist. However, not only was the erroneous feeding frenzy – which included incitement to violence against minors – predictable, but its repetition is inevitable. On Saturday, a story went viral that the previous day the Covington kids, wearing MAGA hats, had left the March for Life only to barge into the Indigenous People’s March...

The new Brazilian government’s czar for economic affairs is bringing in the right people, straight from the Austrian School, says Silvio Simonetti in this week’s Acton Commentary. Presidents and prime ministers often resort to the appointment of “czars” to handle a crisis or plex policies when a show of urgent political engagement seems in order. But these modern day czars, unlike their autocratic namesakes, are often short termers with greatly constrained powers and, by the very nature of plex problem...