Note: This is post #12 in a weekly video series on basic microeconomics. Why do taxes exist? What are their effects? In this video by Marginal Revolution University, economist Alex Tabarrok explainshow taxes affect consumer surplus and producer surplus. He also discusses the concept of deadweight by considering a real-world example from the 1990s: taxing luxury yachts. (If you find the pace of the videos too slow, I’d mend watching them at 1.5 to 2 times the speed. You can...

Consumption is arguably the first (or maybe second) economic concept mentioned in the Bible. After creating Adam and Eve and giving them the cultural mandate (“Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.”), God says to them, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all...

During a season such as Christmas, where hyper-consumerism and hyper-generosity converge in strange and mysterious ways, it’s a question worth asking: How much of our gift-giving is inefficient and wasteful? For some, it’s a buzz-kill question worthy of Ebenezer Scrooge. For an economist, however, it’s a prodthat pushes us to createmore value and better align our hearts and hands with human needs. In a new video at Marginal Revolution, economists Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrock explore this at length, asking...

Paul Bonicelli, Director of Programs at the Acton Institute, appeared on CNBC’s Closing Bell on Thursday afternoon to discuss President-elect Donald Trump’s deal with Carrier to keep 1,000 jobs in Indiana, and to offer analysis of the potential economic priorities of the ing Trump Administration. You can view the interview below. ...

In a new article at The Christian Science Monitor titled “Can ‘economic nationalism’ keep more jobs in US?” Acton Director of Research Samuel Gregg is interviewed about President-elect Donald Trump’s stated goal of keeping jobs and businesses from leaving for foreign countries.In the analysis piece by reporter Patrik Jonsson, he cites Gregg as a critic of protectionism: In short, the United States cannot step back from the world without losing out, critics say. Trump’s plans are in the short-term “likely...

When most literature students are asked about literature inspired by World War I, they typically respond with such names as Robert Graves, Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon and Richard Aldington. As well, T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound are included by extension as both “The Waste Land” and “Hugh Selwyn Mauberley” are largely informed by the 1914 to 1918 conflagration. Largely forgotten is David Jones, a writer of many sensibilities that are all synthesized and informed by his Roman Catholicism. In Parenthesis,...

Series Note: Jobs are one of the most important aspects of a morally functioning economy. They help us serve the needs of our neighbors and lead to human flourishing both for the individual and munities. Conversely, not having a job can adversely affect spiritual and psychological well-being of individuals and families. Because unemployment is a spiritual problem, Christians in America need to understand and be aware of the monthly data on employment. Each month highlight the latest numbers we need...

The 2016 American Family Survey was designed to understand the “lived experiences of Americans in their relationships and families” andprovide “context for understanding Americans’ life choices, economic experiences, attitudes about their own relationships, and evaluations of the relationships they see around them.” Here are seven figures you should know from this recently released survey: 1. When asked what specific challenges are making family life difficult, one-third (32 percent) said the costs associated with raising a family, one-fourth (27 percent) said...

Are you better off than someone who has a million dollars in the bank? Probably not—at least pared to a millionaire today. But chances are you consider yourself better off than someone who was a millionaire in an previous era—and you may even be better off than someone who had a million dollars in the bank in the 1970s or 1980s. Don’t believe me? Then ask yourself this question: How much is [technological advance X] worth to me? That’s not...

Tim Sullivan, editorial director of Harvard Business Review Press, took a look at how difficult it actually is for philanthropists to give their money away and focused on the case of Paul English, founder of . In a Harvard Business Review article titled “The Philanthropist’s Burden” in the December issue, Sullivan talks about how, despite many causes to support, the real trick is to find the most effective organizations. He uses the Acton Institute Poverty, Inc. documentary to show how...