Economics

January 08, 2020

Tyler Cowen’s “State Capacity Libertarianism”: A Straussian Reading

On a recent episode of the excellent podcast Conversations with Tyler the economist Tyler Cowen reflected on the direction his and co-author Alex Tabarrok’s blog Marginal Revolution has taken over the last ten years: [I]n 2009 I was still experimenting in some fresh way with blogging as a new medium and what it meant. Continue Reading...

January 08, 2020

Richard Reinsch on Rubio’s ‘materialistic’ industrial policy

Last November, my colleague Dan Hugger critiqued comments by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) about his desire for “common good capitalism” informed by Roman Catholic social teaching. Generally speaking, this is an aspiration that many at the Acton Institute share, but the specifics of what that would look like are where the real differences lie. Continue Reading...

January 08, 2020

What are the unintended consequences of economic nationalism?

Protectionist policies are, on the surface, attractive. Through state means, they promise to protect industries and workers as well as boost a country’s industrial production. But like most top-down solutions, there’s a catch; the government has a knowledge deficiency. Continue Reading...

January 06, 2020

Capitalism, solidarity, and work: A view from the 16th century

Legal historian Wim Decock of the KU Leuven recently published a study of the economic thought of the Flemish Jesuit Leonardus Lessius (1554–1623). Last week the National Catholic Register posted an interview with Decock about his book and Lessius’s contribution to economics. Continue Reading...

December 13, 2019

Think like Lenin

Gary Saul Morson has excellent and enlightening piece at the New Criterion on Vladimir Lenin and what he calls Leninthink. “Lenin did more than anyone else to shape the last hundred years. Continue Reading...

December 13, 2019

The cautionary tale of ‘government cheese’

When President Jimmy Carter first took office in 1977, America’s dairy farmers were struggling. Throughout the economic disruptions of the 1970s, the country had seen a shortage of dairy products, followed by a 30% spike in prices (due to government-inspired inflation), followed by a drastic decline in prices (due to government-inspired intervention). Continue Reading...

December 11, 2019

Trade war hits home: How tariffs disrupt American businesses

Despite the “America-first” claims of trade protectionists and economic nationalists, we continue to see the ill effects of the Trump administration’s recent wave of tariffs—particularly among American businesses, workers, and consumers. Continue Reading...

December 11, 2019

Wilhelm Röpke on liberalism and Catholic social teaching

This week’s Acton Commentary, adapted from my preface to the newest Acton Institute publication The Humane Economist: A Wilhelm Röpke Reader, illustrates what makes Röpke such an interesting and vital economist: Röpke saw his project in holistic terms involving intersecting and interdependent spheres or orden that to be fully appreciated and understood scientifically must be examined in their economic, social, and moral dimensions. Continue Reading...

November 27, 2019

Marco Rubio’s ‘Common-Good Capitalism’ lacks sound economics

In this week’s Acton Commentary I examine Sen. Marco Rubio’s case for “Common-Good Capitalism”: Americans are searching for answers for the disintegration of the family, falling participation in religious and civic institutions, drug dependency, suicide, and economic dislocation. Continue Reading...

November 25, 2019

Wealth inequality is a First World problem

As the West has become progressively more interventionist, concern with “income inequality” has been eclipsed by “wealth inequality.” However, that focus betrays a certain blindness to a vital economic reality. Measures of equality and inequality tell us nothing about what really matters: a society’s prosperity or poverty. Continue Reading...

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