Today marks 13 years since the passing of the Reverend Edmund A. Opitz, pastor, author, and great supporter of the Acton Institute’s mission. On February 1, 1999, Rev. Opitz sent a letter to Leonard P. Liggio (1933-2014) and to me. We were both founding trustees of Acton, which at the time was not yet ten years old. Many friends in the freedom movement, including Father Robert Sirico, Acton’s co-founder, started attending programs conducted by Ed Opitz at the Foundation for...

Though certainly not well known in North America, Juan Bautista Alberdi is a towering figure in the history of Argentina. He was a major influence on the Argentine constitution and was an intellectual force in 19th-century South America. He was an adherent of classical liberal views but also a convinced Christian. His Christianity has at times been overlooked—the New Catholic Encyclopedia, for instance, devotes an entire page to Alberdi but gives no mention of his Christianity or his views on...

Over at Marginal Revolution University they have kicked off a new series of videos on Women in Economics: Women in Economics highlights the groundbreaking and inspiring work of female economists — not only to recognize the important work they’ve done but to also share their inspirational journeys. The first video features NobelLaureate Elinor Ostrom previously profiled by Sarah Stanley in Religion and Liberty: Elinor Ostrom was a professor at Indiana University and the senior research director of the Vincent and...

True thinkers are those capable of provoking in their readers and listeners the ability to think outside of ordinary life, to look beyond the merely conventional, and to understand that tensions, contradictions, and nuances are part of the process of growing. Camille Paglia gets it all and much more in the new collection of her essays in Provocations (Pantheon, 2018), a title that could not have been better chosen. Paglia is a feminist, atheist, and lesbian arts professor, sympathetic to...

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Ed Markey’s proposed Green New Deal is getting a lot of attention these days. Democratic Presidential hopefuls Cory Booker,Kirsten Gillibrand,Kamala Harris, andElizabeth Warren are all supporters, as is Senator Bernie Sanders. Former Greek Minister of Finance and Economist Yanis Varoufakis has been aggressively promoting his own vision of a Green New Deal for Europe. Many of the policy proposals and programs are similar and so are the proposed methods of funding: The great advantage of...

On this episode of Acton Line, producer Caroline Roberts speaks with Sarah Estelle, professor of economics at Hope College. Estelle breaks down mon misconceptions about economics and shares what our love for those around us has to do with economics. Register for the ing lunch and lecture event at the Acton Institute on February 14, to hear Estelle share more about integrating sound economics with a Christian perspective. After that, Acton’sPoverty Initiatives Manager, Andrew Vanderput, speaks with Scott Sabin, the...

Last week two Congressional Democrats, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey, unveiled their Green New Deal. The resolution claims that environmental and economic conditions require the federal government to take drastic action, such as updating or replacing every building in the country and guaranteeing jobs to all Americans. The proposal has been described as “the same old socialist hooey,” and even many Democrats consider it unfeasible. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced yesterday that he wants the Senate to...

During Ethiopia’s bout munism in the 1970s and 1980s, the government nationalized the land and converted much of it for agriculture, leaving only 5% of the country’s forests—a 45% decrease from the beginning of the century. Now, thanks to a growing partnership between ecologists and the country’s Tewahedo churches, biodiversity is making eback. “If you see a forest in Ethiopia, you know there is very likely to be a church in the middle,” writes Alison Abbott in Nature. “…These small...

Panera has announced that it will close the last of its charitable stores, which allowed people to pay whatever they wished for a meal, because it was costing too much dough. The Boston store will shut its doors permanently this Friday, February 15. “Panera Cares” were indistinguishable from other Panera eateries in their branding, menu, or furnishings, except they announced that no one would be turned away if they did not pay one cent of the “suggested prices.” Those who...

President Trump said in a press conference Tuesday that he may postpone the March 1st deadline for the extension of tariffs on Chinese goods as US trade representatives are in China working on a trade agreement. Trump promoted tariffs in his campaign and has argued that tariffs will help strengthen the US economy and bring back factory jobs to American workers. The first round of tariffs on started last year with a 25% tariff on over 800 different Chinese goods....