There’s lots to digest and consider in a new Barna report on poverty: A new national survey by The Barna Group regarding people’s perspectives on poverty shows that Americans are quite concerned about what they perceive to be a significant and growing challenge facing the nation. The survey also showed that most people are actively involved in trying to alleviate poverty, although they typically believe it is primarily the government’s job to do so. The religious faith of adults appears...

I’m reading David Schmidtz’s Elements of Justice, which is very ably reviewed (although not by me) in the ing issue of the Journal of Markets & Morality (10.1). I just read a striking passage, which discusses the merits of a principle of property rights that respects first possession rather than equal shares. An overlooked virtue of first possession: It lets us live together without having to view ers as a threat. If we were to regard ers as having a...

On today’s Diane Rehm Show, a panel of experts discussed the pending energy policy legislation in the US Congress. Karen Wayland, legislative director of the Natural Resources Defense Counsel talked about the need to join the concepts of national security and climate change when discussing energy policy (RealAudio). From her perspective, these two concerns are tied up together and shouldn’t be separated, in part because if you take energy independence and national security alone, you might think that reliance on...

This post will be updated and bumped as more audio es available. Newer audio appears at the bottom of the list. Economic Liberty in Catholic Social Teaching: Kishore JayabalanCompeting Visions of Business: Michael MillerSixteenth-Century Protestant Moral Theologians: Stephen GrabillCatholic Social Teaching: Basic Principles: Stephen Haessler NOTE: This is a re-post; the audio link from a previous post has been corrected.Poverty in the Developing World: Michael Miller NOTE: Due to a recording error, the end of this lecture is slightly truncated.Africa:...

I thought this was an interesting bit at the intersection of morality and economics. An insurance brokerage firm, K&B Underwriters, is sponsoring a physicians’ survey designed to determine whether doctors who work within a “culture of life” framework (e.g., eschewing abortion) are less prone to malpractice suits than those who don’t. pany’s hypothesis is that pro-life physicians are indeed “safer” in this way, with the implication that pro-life medical practices could be one criterion taken into account when calculating malpractice...

Do you consider gasoline to be a gift from God? You should. Andy Crouch, editorial director of the Christian Vision Project at Christianity Today, writes in a recent Books & Culture piece, “As our family sits together, eyes closed, we say grace. Today it’s Timothy’s turn. ‘God, thank you so much for all we have,’ he begins in what turns into a typically prolix nine-year-old’s prayer. Eventually he is done—’in Jesus’ name, Amen’—and I turn the key. We have just...

In today’s NYT: “Oxfam Suggests Benefit in Africa if U.S. Cuts Cotton Subsidies.” “Eliminating billions of dollars in federal subsidies to American cotton growers each year would reduce American cotton production and exports, raise world prices by about 10 percent and modestly improve the es of millions of poor cotton farmers in Africa, according to a new study by Oxfam, the aid group.” About how many other industries could a similar thing be said? It’s also good to see that...

The idealism and the goals of the United Nations are laudable. The results, at least in recent years, have often been nothing short of a disaster. One example will suffice—the recently created U.N.’s Human Rights Council, begun a year ago this past week. This council is sadly typical of the modern collapse of the U.N. The Human Rights Council consists of 47 members, almost half of which are "unfree" or "partly free" nations, at least as ranked by Freedom House....

As developing countries turn increasingly to private capital markets, the World Bank is facing not only a steep decline in demand for its loans but a crisis of relevancy. Sam Gregg looks at the changing market and how the rules of private lending might also provide a better check on corruption in the developing world. Adieu, World Bank? Read mentary here. ...

Today’s Dilbert is a good one: “green” consulting, Dogbert-style. ...