Note: This is post #80 in a weekly video series on basic economics. The Solow model was named after Robert Solow, the 1987 winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics. Among other things, the Solow model helps us understand the nuances and dynamics of growth, says Alex Tabarrok of Marginal Revolution University. The model also lets us distinguish between two types of growth: catching up growth and cutting edge growth. As you’ll soon see in this video, a country can...

In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis described the dreary state of Narnia under the curse of the White Witch as “always winter but never Christmas.” His assessment may soon apply to the National Health Service (NHS), whose annually intensifying “winter crisis” threatens to e permanent, according to the UK’s leading doctors’ association. “The winter crisis has truly been replaced by a year-round crisis,” said Dr. Chaand Nagpaul, chairman of the British Medical Association (BMA). Each winter,...

“Men Without Chests” is the curious title of the first chapter of C.S. Lewis’s The Abolition of Man. In the book, Lewis explains that the “The Chest” is one of the “indispensable liaison officers between cerebral man and visceral man. It may even be said that it is by this middle element that man is man: for by his intellect he is mere spirit and by his appetite mere animal.” Without “Chests” we are unable to have confidence that we...

Culture wars are plex with overlapping conflicts that are often confused and conflated, says John D. Wilsey in this week’s Acton Commentary. For the past five decades, Americans have waged what has monly referred to as a “culture war.” A number of authors have examined the culture wars from philosophical, historical, and sociological standpoints, especially since the early 1990s—Charles Murray, Robert Putnam, James Davison Hunter, Philip Gorski, and Andrew Hartman to name a few. It is tempting to see the...

What just happened? On Tuesday, the House voted 258-159 (including 33 Democrats) in favor of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act. The legislation rolls back some of the Dodd-Frank banking and financial regulations that were implemented after the financial crisis a decade ago. The Senate has already approved a similar version and President Trump said he will sign the bill. What is Dodd-Frank? The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (better known as Dodd-Frank) is...

Yesterday was the 144th birthday of G.K. Chesterton. In his honor, here are six quotes by the great British writer on freedom and virtue. On defending virtue: “The act of defending any of the cardinal virtues has today all the exhilaration of a vice.” On modern freedom: “Most modern freedom is at root fear. It is not so much that we are too bold to endure rules; it is rather that we are too timid to endure responsibilities.” On courage:...

Education Secretary Betsy DeVosIn today’s Detroit News, Acton President Rev. Robert A. Sirico writes that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops should consider the Catholic doctrine of subsidiarity before weighing in on education reform. In his essay, “Localize, Don’t Politicize, Our Schools,” Fr. Sirico notes that he is the priest of a parish that hosts pre-school and K-12 education, which daily brings him face-to-face with parents who make considerable sacrifices on behalf of educating their children. I know too...

On this episode of Radio Free Acton, Andrew Vanderput, PovertyCure strategy and engagement manager at Acton, holds a discussion with Peter Greer, president and CEO of Hope International, on how human flourishing can be brought about in the context of poverty. Then, on the Upstream segment, Bruce Edward Walker talks to author Jeremy Begbie about his new book, Redeeming Transcendence in the Arts. Check out these additional resources on this week’s podcast topics: Learn more about PovertyCure Learn more about...

As Americans continue to flock to large cities in search of opportunity and connection, many of those same cities are suffering from expensive housing costs, arbitrary price controls, onerous regulations, and cronyist governance—the sum of which is serving to diminishaccess to the pondand stunt opportunity among the disconnected. In Seattle, Washington, for example, we see the typical cocktail of a progressive urbanist’s daydreams, mixing excessive land-use regulationswith a series of knee-jerk jolts in the minimum wage. Despite being home to...

As the latest crop of college graduates enters the workforce, many ing fully loaded with grandiose plans for “social transformation,” “giving back to munities,” and “making a difference.” Unfortunately, such phrases have e slippery slogans based on a cultural imagination that is far too narrow in its basic assumptions. Whether spurred along by the idealism of college professors, the hurrahs of mencement speeches, or the hedonistic calls of cultural tropes (“follow your passion!”), today’s youth are often clouded with a...