Interpreting works of literature is always a dicey task—it’s all too easy to find the conclusions we want to find and turn authors into spokesmen for our own ideas. In these reflections on Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, I don’t claim that what I say is necessarily what Hugo himself intended. That said, though, his unforgettable story gives worthwhile insights into the workings of a free and virtuous society. There’s a reason the novel’s title is seldom translated into English—misérables means...

There are few men who define an era, a school of thought or anything of the sort. There are even in smaller numbers those who, once dead, give us a feeling that along with them a whole es to an end. It seems to me that this is the correct reading of the death of the 41st president of the United States (1989-1993). With George H. Bush, we have lost not only a man but a style and a special...

Over the past decade, we have received many resounding warnings of an impending “beepocalypse”—and for good reason. Honeybee mortality rates have spiked and scientists are still struggling to pinpoint the cause, posing a range of environmental concerns and putting many important crops at risk. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, bees add $15 billion in annual revenue to the economy. Yet amid the increase in bee mortality—attributed to something called colony collapse disorder (CCD)—the country’s beekeeping entrepreneurs have quietly...

Note: This is post #103 in a weekly video series on basic economics. Labor force participation is an important concept connected to employment. The labor force participation rate is defined as the section of working population in the age group of 16-64 in the economy currently employed or seeking employment.The formula for the labor force participation rate is therefore rather simple: labor force (unemployed + employed) / adult population, excluding people in the military or prison for both. The total...

As our Acton Institute prepares for its Rome conference tomorrow, December 4, on the Dominican contribution to “Freedom, Virtue, and the Good Society”, extraordinary men and women from the Order of e to mind: Albert the Great, Catherine of Siena, and perhaps the most famous of all, the Angelic Doctor, Thomas Aquinas. Together these medieval stalwarts of the faith, truth, and justice laid the groundwork for modern science, modern learning, and even modern politics. The great Dominican heritage may have...

President George H.W. Bush died on Friday at the age of 94. Bush became a war-hero and earned a degree in economics from Yale before entering into a career that made him one of the greatest statesmen ofthe twentieth century. Throughout his life Bush was a champion of freedom—for individual, for markets, and for nations. Here are six of Bush’s most important quotes onfreedom and economic liberty: On the misuse of the terms freedom and liberty: “No terms have been...

In an extremely disturbing video, a two year old girl is run over by a truck in a China. Shortly after being run over, three strangers walk past the girl and do nothing. Eventually, a street cleaner picks her up and transports her to the hospital where she later dies. Utilitarian philosopher, Peter Singer, uses this real world example in a TEDTalk that has now received over 1 million views to make a point about our global charity and aid...

What just happened? Earlier this week the U.S. Congress voted unanimously to support HR 309, the “Iraq and Syria Genocide Relief and Accountability Act of 2018.” The purpose of the bill is to provide relief for victims of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes who are members of religious and ethnic minority groups in Iraq and Syria, for accountability for perpetrators of these crimes, and for other purposes. The bipartisan bill, first introduced in 2017 by Representatives Chris Smith...

On this episode of Radio Free Acton, producer Caroline Roberts speaks with A.J. Jacobs, journalist and New York Times bestselling author, about his latest book “Thanks a Thousand,” detailing his trip around to world to find and thank each person who worked to produce his morning coffee. After that, senior editor at the Acton Institute, Rev. Ben Johnson, speaks with Estonian politician Mari-Ann Kelam about her witness of Soviet occupied Estonia and her work to champion freedom even after the...

As protests for a $15-per-hour minimum wage continue torage across the country, cities likeSeattleand Minneapolis and states likeCaliforniaandNew Yorkhave begun to adopt such schemes, leading to a range of unfortunate case studies in economic destruction. Despite the popular narrative that such laws will benefit the most vulnerable and put the powerful in check, the negative consequences have tended to be most severe for small businesses and low-skilled workers. Take New York City’s car wash industry, a sector known for its...