“This year marks the 40th anniversary of one of the most consequential anti-poverty programs in human history,” says Rev. Ben Johnson in this week’s Acton Commentary. “Now, there is evidence that its spillover effects may lift millions more out of dire need.” The new openness to enterprise, private property, and investment led to China’s meteoric economic rise. Now, Donald Trump’s tariffs are encouraging manufacturers to take their factories elsewhere. Ian Chen, CEO of a Chinese technological exporter, said that Trump’s...

It was in Godfather III where Al Pacino as Michael Corleone said it first and said it best: “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!” Before we were able to put away our party hats after celebrating the Supreme Court’s Janus decision in June, Missouri rejected a right-to-work measure at the state’s primary ballot box last week. And now Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) wants to do a federally legislated end run around Janus with a...

Note: This is post #89 in a weekly video series on basic economics. pany can raise money and create new investment by selling shares through an initial public offering (IPO). When you buy pany’s shares on the stock market, though, no new investment is created. So what exactly do stock markets do? In this video by Marginal Revolution University,Alex Tabarrok explains how stock markets serve as a financial intermediary and serves as a key institution encouraging new businesses. (If you...

Pope Benedict XVI made an fortable claim in his 2006 Regensburg address: contemporary Muslim terrorism may owe something to Islam’s conception of God. A year later, Father James V. Schall SJ wrote a book about the address which, as Acton Director of Research Samuel Gregg says, placed it in the wider context of a set of religious and philosophical challenges that many Westerners still can’t bring themselves to address: Over the past sixteen years, Schall has written numerous articles on...

A young professor panies his mentor to a private meeting of economists from around the country. As they take their seats the host says, “To start us off, let’s have a few rounds of the best jokes.” An elderly woman stands up and says “37,” and everyone laughs. Another yells “49,” and the crowd cackles hysterically. This goes on for a while, when the young man turns to his senior and says, “I don’t get it, numbers aren’t funny.” His...

On this episode of Radio Free Acton, host Caroline Roberts speaks with Dave Hebert, Professor of Economics at Aquinas College for another Econ Quiz segment on the topic of pensions and state debt. Then, on the Upstream segment, Bruce Edward Walker talks to Phil Terzian, a writer for The Weekly Standard, on the blind spots in the legacy of Frida Kahlo as well as our modern understanding of Stalinism. Check out these additional resources on this week’s podcast topics: Read...

“If economics is the dismal science,” says Hans Noel, an associate professor at Georgetown University, “then political science is the dismissed science.” Most Americans—from pundits to voters—don’t think that political science has much to say about political life. But there are some things, notes Noel, that “political scientists know that it seems many practitioners, pundits, journalists, and otherwise informed citizens do not.” Here are excerpts from Noel’s list of ten things political scientists know that you don’t: #1. It’s The...

New York City has enacted the first-ever government cap on the number of vehicles licensed to ride-sharing services like Uber or Lyft. On Tuesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio signed the bill imposing a one-year moratorium on new licenses, establishing a minimum wage for drivers – and touching off an international debate among Christians and others about the morality of Uber. “As the council was considering the legislation, some in my church circles discussed avoiding ride-sharing as a way to love...

For many years I was unable to understand the reasoning behind the claims that e inequality is a moral issue that only applies at the group level. Then it came to me like an epiphany—or more accurately, as a Groupon email. According to Wikipedia, the Groupon works as an assurance contract: If a certain number of people sign up for an offer, then the deal es available to all; if the predetermined minimum is not met, no one gets the...

“How can we explain this emporiophobia—a fear of markets—given the overwhelming evidence that such institutions provide the greatest wealth, health and happiness for humankind?” When economics professor Paul Rubin asked that questionhe answered by saying that we need to shift the metaphor of markets from petition” to “cooperation.” Cooperation isn’t just more important in the economic sphere—it’s also mon. We cooperate with everyone involved in making all the products we buy and sell, millions of people we’ll never know. […]...