Note: This is post #33 in a weekly video series on basic microeconomics. Comparative advantage explains why people trade and what goods they should trade. To illustrate the concept parative advantage, Marginal Revolution University’s Alex Tabarrok asks, “Should Martha Stewart iron her own shirts?” Even if Martha Stewart has an absolute advantage in ironing shirts, her opportunity cost is simply too high. (If you find the pace of the videos too slow, I’d mend watching them at 1.5 to 2...

Over the past few decades, America has experienced a wave of drastic economic and social disruption. In our search for solutions, we’ve tended to look either to ourselves orthe State, resulting in a clash between individualism and collectivism that forgets or neglects the space between. But what might be happening (or not happening) in those middle layers of society, from families to churches to charities to our economic activities? What might we be missing or forgetting about in those mediating...

At a time when populist sentiments are on the rise on both sides of the Atlantic, the leader of one former Communist nation has affirmed that free markets open acrossborders area blessing. In anew essay at Religion & Liberty Transatlantic,Mihail Neamtu, Ph.D., argues that the wealth created by foreign investment furthers the national interest. In his mentary, titled“Romania chooses prosperity over populism,”he recounts thenation’s unusually bold embrace of international capital. Urged to keepforeigners out of its economy or restricttheir investment,...

WhenJames Blaineintroduced his ill-fatedconstitutional amendmentin 1875, he probably never would have imagined the unintended consequences it would have over a hundred years later. Blaine wanted to prohibit the use of state funds at “sectarian” schools (a code word for Catholic parochial schools) in order to inhibit immigration. Since the public schools instilled a Protestant Christian view upon its students, public education was viewed as a way to stem the tide of Catholic influence. While the amendment passed by a large...

Brexit may suffer from the most uniquely invertedpublic perception in modern international affairs. The British referendum to leave the European Union – the most successful rebellion against global governanceto date – is depicted as a racist and xenophobic retreat into an isolated and atomized existence.In fact, it is only Brexit that allows the UK to leave behind Brussels’ schedule ofsubsidies and tariffs that deny developing nations access to the world’s largest market,setting millions on a path to independence and self-sufficiency....

Globalization does not merely mean petition; it also means that the best minds from around the world can collaborate and, when necessary, correct one another’s conclusions. Scientists rely on this interplay of minds but so do other disciplines, not least economics, where clear thinking is perpetually in short supply. A foreign free-market think tank has made a e critique of a viral video titled “Wealth Inequality in America,” which has racked up more than 20 million views on YouTube. The...

In the wake of the last presidential election, the American people appear to be fracturing and shifting on the long-held consensus about the benefits of free trade. Meanwhile, state-owned television in the People’s Republic of China is churning out pro-trade propaganda such as this (HT Pethokoukis): Yet the underlying irony is a bit overstated, I’d suspect. According to AEI’s Dan Blumenthal and Derek Scissors, China’s One Belt One Road initiative aims to “create a network of infrastructure projects linking itself...

In For the Life of the World: Letters to the Exiles, we routinely point to Jeremiah 29 as a primer for life in exile, prodding us toward active and integrative cultural and economic witness, and away from the typical temptations of fortification, domination, and modation. As Christians continue to struggle with what it means to be in but not of the world — whether in government, business, the family, or elsewhere — Jeremiah reminds us to “seek the welfare of...

I have confession to make: I don’t like conferences. I don’t like seminars or conventions, either. I also don’t like colloquiums, symposiums, forums, or summits. I love people (really, I do) and I love discussions about ideas. But something happens when you put them together into a “conference” that causes my introverted tendencies to spike. I’m just not a conference-going kinda guy. That’s probably an odd admission to make, especially in a post in which I try to convince you...

It was with deep sadness that I learned today of the passing of John F. “Jack” Donahue. Jack truly was a renaissance man, packing significant and lasting plishments into his 92 years. If ever it could be said that I encountered a singular, real-life saint, Jack would qualify as that one person. At first blush, what impressed me most about Jack was his devotion to his wife of 70 years, Rhodora. The consummate family man, Jack raised 13 children with...