Capitalism tends to make Christians uneasy and conflicted. On the one hand, we recognize that free enterprise has been the most effect means of poverty reduction in the history of the world. But on the other hand, we are forced to admit that the system can be used to destroy the good, the true, and the beautiful. How can we resolve this tension? One important step, as Nathan Smith explains, is to better understand the “ideological heart of capitalism”—the doctrine...

There are many factors that account for a country’s economic freedom (or lack thereof), but one ofthe most overlooked is the role of religion. Can economic freedom be explained by religion, independently ofpolitical institutions? That’s the question researchers at an economics think-tank in Germany attempted to answer. Their findings: Weinvestigate whether religion affects economic freedom. Our cross-sectional dataset includes 137countries averaged over the period 2001-2010. Simple correlations show that Protestantism isassociated with economic freedom, Islam is not, with Catholicism in...

In a recent article in Commonweal, the Orthodox theologian David Bentley Hart responds to a rebuttal article written last year by Acton research director Samuel Gregg. Hart say that “on at least one point Gregg did have me dead to rights: I did indeed say that the New Testament, alarmingly enough, condemns great personal wealth not merely as a moral danger, but as an intrinsic evil.” What is Hart’s basis for the claim? That he can read thekoineGreek. He believe...

While many Christians have undermined human liberty, says Samuel Gregg, the Director of Research for Acton, a new book of essays shows just how much of our contemporary freedom we owe to the Christian church, Christian thinkers, and Christian practice rather than liberals and liberalism. Any discussion of freedom and Christianity quickly surfaces the numerous instances in which Christians have undermined human liberty. Reference is invariably made to the various Inquisitions, the witch trials conducted by Puritans, forced conversions, and...

Note: This is the fourthpost in a weekly video series on basic microeconomics. Now that we know what the supply and demand curves are we can put them together to understand how they affect prices. In this video from Marginal Revolution University, we learn how prices reach equilibrium and how the market works like an invisible hand coordinating economic activity. We also discover why at equilibrium the price is stable and gains from trade are maximized, and why when the...

A new collection of essays titled Christianity and Freedom: Historical Perspectives edited by Samuel Shah and Allen D. Hertzke explores the ways that Christian beliefs and institutions have made contributions to the freedoms that are cherished by both Christians and non-Christians today. Acton Director of Research, Samuel Gregg, recently gave his analysis of this new collection of essays in a book review published at Public Discourse. Gregg begins his review by recognizing that while Christians have played a huge role...

“Our problem [with education] today is not to enforce conformity; it is rather that we are threatened with an excess of conformity. Our problem is to foster diversity.” –Milton Friedman, Capitalism & Freedom The education reform movement has set forth a range of strategies bat the leviathan of publiceducation. Yet more often than not, thosesolutions arecouched only with boilerplate about the glories of markets petition. There is plenty oftruth behind such rhetoric, butas Greg Forster outlines in an extensive series...

This ad perhaps captures Deirdre McCloskey’s observation that “love runs consumption” better than anything I have yet seen. Coca Cola – What Goes es Around from THE APA on Vimeo. And embedded in Jack White’s song are some rich theological insights. For more on the backstory for the song and the ad, check out this piece at the Consequence of Sound. ...

By Jacques Reich (undoubtedly based on a work by another artist) – Appletons’ Cyclopædia of American Biography, 1900, v. 5, p. 438, Public Domain, “You are the spring that puts all the rest in motion; they would not stir a step without you.” John Wesley (1703–1791) was talking about the slave trade and was impugning the buyers and owners of slaves as equally culpable as those who captured and sold them, those who “would not stir a step” without buyers...

The number of people living in extreme poverty continues to decline, notes a report released yesterday by the World Bank. In 2013, the year of the prehensive data on global poverty, an estimated 767 million people were living below the international poverty line of $1.90 per person per day. This is a decrease of about 100 pared with 2012. The decline is primarily attributed to the reductions in the number of the extreme poor in South Asia (37 million fewer...