Over the weekend, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced that her office received plaints of retailers gouging coronavirus-panicked consumers on the price of basic necessities: Stores in Farmington Hills, Dearborn, Ann Arbor and Allendale have been accused of jacking up the price of hand sanitizers, face masks, and rice and lentils by up to 900%. In one case, the Allendale store was allegedly selling face masksthat would normally sell for $3 apiecefor $6 to $10 each. Another store had increased...

In exploring the intersection of Christianity and economics, we routinely see several e into play, particularly between notions of generosity and personal profit. The key question is: How do we reconcile our calling to be both a selfless servant and a maker and multiplier? In a new talk from the Economic Wisdom Project’s latest Karam Forum, Greg Forster encourages us to find the answer in the particular paradox of the Christian life. Drawing from Mathetes’ ancient Letter to Diognetus, Forster...

Like everyone else, I’m trying to wrap my mind around the blizzard of information on the coronavirus pandemic and the sudden change in my daily routine. It’s all a bit surreal. Yes, I still retrieve myWall Street Journalin the morning—but with gratitude that this is not my sole medium of information. Ubiquitous access to information—good or bad; accurate or inaccurate—can be unsettling during a crisis. But the free flow of information is always preferable to censorship or state-orchestrated disinformation, which...

Coronavirus, or COVID-19, has invited people around the world to take a sober approach to life and social relations. But it has also spread a potentially worse contagion throughout society: panic. At the Acton Institute’sReligion & Liberty Transatlantic website, James Agresti dispenses the cold facts about COVID-19. Every article written by Agresti, the president ofJust Facts,provides verifiable, documented data without political spin. This article is no exception. At the end of the article, Agresti notes the economic dangers the virus...

As of March 18, Coronavirus, or COVID-19 — which originated in Wuhan, China — has infected over 200,000 people and has killed more than 8,000 people globally. What responsive measures should have been taken by China that weren’t? How did the People’s Republic of China put the world in danger by failing the people of Wuhan, and who in China risked their lives and even the lives of their family members to raise the alarm for your sake? Helen Raleigh,...

In this global crisis, mankind will find medical weapons to slay the COVID-19 dragon and stave off a massive loss of lives and global economic collapse. However, this means allowing enough operating space for God, through His Grace, by remaining diligently prayerful while also zealous and creative in our scientific research. Read More… “By God’s Grace we will win the race.” I love this optimistic expression used by some of my African priest friends in Rome. It is true that...

The COVID-19 pandemic panic has caused an eerie, post-apocalyptic scene to monplace across the country: supermarkets with barren shelves. One would think that this is the time for an intervention to ensure that stores stay stocked with the things we need, but governors nationwide are taking the opposite approach. This includes Michigan, Wisconsin, and Oregon. Several other states connect price controls to declared states of emergency, as well. Despite their good intentions, policies meant to curb price gouging will perpetuate...

This article first appeared on March 17, 2020, in Public Discourse, the journal of the Witherspoon Institute, and was republished with permission. The COVID-19 pandemic is catalyzing trends in the economy that have been incubating for some time. Three basic elements form the dynamics at the core of economic development in the twenty-first century: virtualization, automation, and incarnation. The first two of these have received the majority of the attention, both popularly and in policy discussions. But as the coronavirus...

As the COVID-19 pandemic affects more and more people across the globe, there are many duties that e plain to us as munities, and citizens. Many workplaces have innovated in response to these challenges, and churches have looked to the past for inspiration to bring hope to our present. Individuals have taken precautions, and government has stepped in bat panic. There’s a lot to take in, and in this crisis, we learn about one of life’s great mysteries: how people...

The most ubiquitous phrase popularized by the coronavirus epidemic, “social distancing,” carries connotations of shunning or anti-social behavior. The isolation of the elderly particularly tugs at our heartstrings. The widely shared photo of 88-year-old Dorothy Campbell speaking through a nursing home’s window to her 89-year-old husband, Gene, poignantly depicts the deep-seated need for human contact amid the obstructions of anti-virus protocols. But distancing in a time of global pandemics preserves life. As such, it should be seen as a form...