In an election that CNN named “one to watch,” Czech voters re-elected a president Western media outlets have dubbed “the European Trump.” The vote could have ramifications for EU integration, Muslim migration to Europe, and the pilfered property of the Christian Church. Miloš Zeman edged out his more Eurocentric opponent, Jiří Drahoš, a political novice, on Saturday, by 51-49 percent. Zeman’s modestly skeptical view of the EU is underlined by his support for Russia and, to a lesser degree, China....

Over the past few years, it’s e more and more difficult to understand political alignments. Most people still talk about the left-right political spectrum, but that no longer seems to fit our current political divide. A few decades ago, for example, we could say that those on the right supported free trade while those on the left endorsed protectionism. Nowadays, though, such lines demarcating economic views are blurred. While the left-right metaphor isn’t totally obsolete, it seems to describe a...

“Good leaders must first e good servants.” ― Robert K. Greenleaf “All I do is win win win no matter what” – DJ Khaled Does treating employees with respect and autonomy lead to greater profits? Maybe. Some are making a case that actively engaging in servant leadership leads to a pany culture and ultimately a more successful business. That’s how Publishing Concepts, Inc. (PCI) president Drew Clancy explains pany’s success. The philosophy of a serving leader is most strongly associated...

Note: This is post #66 in a weekly video series on basic microeconomics. Imagine you take your car in to the shop for routine service and the mechanic says you need a number of repairs. Do you really need them? The mechanic certainly knows more about car repair than you do, but it’s hard to tell whether he’s correct or even telling the truth. You certainly don’t want to pay for repairs you don’t need. Sometimes, when one party has...

The 2018 Acton Lecture series got off to a great start yesterday with an address by Jennifer Roback Morse, a longtime friend and collaborator with the Acton Institute. She addressed how the breakdown of the family unit within culture generates significant problems, both socially and economically, and suggested some ways we can all work to address the issue going forward. We’re happy to share the video with you below; we also want to make sure you know about our Acton...

Winston Churchill once said, “Some see private enterprise as a predatory target to be shot, others as a cow to be milked, but few are those who see it as a sturdy horse pulling the wagon.” Do young Americans, asks Chris Horst, believe entrepreneurship is a target, cow, or horse? My experience tells me we’re more apt to label entrepreneurship a cow or target. Indifference mon, as merce exists almost as a nonfactor for the poor. Scorn is the most-vocal...

In our attempts to support struggling farmers across the developing world, Westerners have tended toward supporting a particular set of preferred “solutions,” whether purchasing “fair trade” products or donating funds to specific causes. Unfortunately, such efforts typically tinker on the surface, either outright ignoring the fundamental forces at play or contributing to a widespread distortion in prices. So how do we get at the root of the problem? How do we actually include our global partners in trade and exchange,...

I have a can’t miss prediction: tonight, when President Trump gives his first State of the Union address, he will describe the state of the union as “strong.” (I’ve made this prediction on this blog the past several years, so I’m hoping for a quadfecta of prescience tonight.) Admittedly, predicting that the state of our union will be described as “strong” is about as safe a bet as you can make when es to politics. Over the last hundred years...

Inequality has e the West’s all-consuming focus. Economic inequality has e the prism through which the media report on every story from the annual Oxfam report and Davos forum to last night’s State of the Union address, health care, gender relations, blockchain – even the proper amount of homework to assign and whether parents should read their children bedtime stories. But should people of faith be worried about inequality? The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), based in London, has produced...

The UK has been transfixed by the collapse of Carillion, a pany which, at the time of its collapse, employed 43,000 employees (20,000 in the UK) and was contracted to carry out 450 projects for the UK government. pany branched out beyond construction and now provides food or maintenance for NHS hospitals, schools, and prisons on behalf of the government. The projects, livelihoods, and pensions of its workforce are threatened as Carillion faces liquidation. While the government refused a £300...