On this episode of Radio Free Acton, Trey Dimsdale, Director of Program Outreach at Acton, speaks with Jennifer Roback Morse, founder of the Ruth Institute, about her ing Acton Lecture Series talk on family breakdown and the economy. Then, on the Upstream segment, Bruce Edward Walker talks to Acton’s Patrick Oetting on the new film Darkest Hour. Check out these additional resources on this week’s podcast topics: Register here to attend Acton’s Lecture Series event on January 25, featuring Jennifer...

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the United States, but the civil rights leader is a figure of worldwide significance. He learned the principles of non-violence from those resisting the British empire, received the Nobel Peace Prize in Stockholm, and is one of the “twentieth century martyrs” whose statue sits atop the great west door of Westminster Cathedral (alongside Maximilian Kolbe, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and others). And 50 years after his death, his moral crusade for equal treatment under...

Why is there talk about a government shutdown? In December Congress passed the Further Additional Continuing Appropriations Act, 2018 (H.R. 1370) which provides non-discretionary funding through January 19, 2018. Because that Act expires at midnight on Friday, Congress must pass a new continuing appropriations act to keep the government operating. Democrats in Congress are insisting that any new stop-gap spending measure to keep the government funded must include a legislative fix on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) act....

Imagine your property is stolen and then having to have this conversation. Government authorities: “Good news, we recovered your stolen property!” You: “That’s great! When can I get it back?” Gov: “Eh, the bad news is we can only give you back 56 percent of what was stolen.” You: “Well, I guess that’s better than nothing.” Gov: “The good news is that you’ll receive cash as restitution for the rest.” You: “Oh wow. That’s incredible!” Gov: “The bad news is...

The opioid epidemic has e one of the deadliest drug crises in American history. In 2015, more peopledied from drug overdosesthan in any year on record, and the majority of drug overdose deaths—more than six out of ten—involved an opioid. A study of emergency rooms in the U.S. also found that since 1999, the number of overdose deaths involving opioids (including prescription opioid pain relievers and heroin) nearly quadrupled. Altogether nearly half a million people died from drug overdoses in...

2017 was a difficult year for many in Latin America. While Mexico endured 6.77 percent inflation, Argentina reached 24.5 percent and Venezuelans suffered a whopping 2,616 percent inflation. parison, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the United States saw inflation between 2.0 and 1.7 percent in 2017. Alex Chafuen, managing director of international outreach at Acton, recently addressed the issues in Latin America on NTN24 “Nuestra Tele Noticias.” Chafuen denounces how inflation feeds corruption, especially in Venezuela and Argentina....

Note: This is post #64 in a weekly video series on basic microeconomics. Adverse selection occurs when an offer conveys negative information about what is being offered. For example, in the market for used cars, sellers have more information about the car’s quality than buyers. This leads to the death spiral of the market, and market failure, explains Marginal Revolution University. However, the market has developed solutions such as warrantees, guarantees, branding, and inspections to offset information asymmetry. (If you...

While trying to teach the most consequential thoughts of West civilization to undergraduates, C. Ivan Spencer hit upon a unique idea: What if they were written in tweets instead of tomes? That’s the kernel of his book Tweetable Nietzsche: His Essential Ideas Revealed and Explained. Somehow, the idea that the callously exploitative philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche could be mass-marketed so easily makes it all the more unsettling. Spencer’s book is reviewed this weekend by Josh Herring, a humanities instructor atThales...

For too long, the West’s policy toward Africa could be summed up in two words: foreign aid. Somehow, temporary funds transfers – many of which never reach their recipient country and end up in the pockets of well-connected Western professionals – would solve structural development issues. MIT economist Daron Acemoglu once derided some foreign aid plans as “get-rich-quick schemes.” Those developmental policies, like Ponzi schemes, hurt the would-be beneficiary. “Even as the level of foreign aid into Africa soared through...

“On January 3, during his first press event of the new year, French President Emmanuel Macron presented a proposal intended to ‘protect the democratic life’ of France from ‘fake news,’” writes Marcin Rzegocki in this week’s Acton Commentary. Macron would make it “possible for judges to remove fake news stories, delete the links to them, block the sites, or close the offending users’ accounts.” The French president is not alone with his ideas to limit foreign information in his country....