Economics

September 17, 2015

Why the Poor Should Be Able to Scalp Their Tickets to See Pope Francis

Last week, 80,000 residents of New York got a free gift: a ticket to see Pope Francis’s procession through Central Park on September 25. Not surprisingly, soon after the tickets started showing up for sale on websites like eBay and Craigslist for hundreds and even thousands of dollars. Continue Reading...

September 16, 2015

Entrepreneurship and Interdisciplinary Scholarship

While reading economist (and rabbi) Israel M. Kirzner’s Competition & Entrepreneurship (1973), it occurred to me that his description of what the “pure entrepreneur” does could also be applied to what a good interdisciplinary scholar, such as someone who studies faith and economics, does (or at least aspires to do). Continue Reading...

September 15, 2015

Is Free Market Capitalism Moral?

Is free market capitalism moral or immoral? If it’s based on greed and selfishness, should it be rejected for an alternative economic system? And if capitalism is moral, what makes it so? Continue Reading...

September 15, 2015

Samuel Gregg: Australia’s Corrosive Political Culture And The Ousting Of Tony Abbott

In today’s American Spectator, Acton’s director of research Samuel Gregg discusses the ousting of former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott and what that means for the Australian economy and beyond. Continue Reading...

September 10, 2015

Creative Destruction as an Anti-Casino

In 1942, economist Joseph Schumpeter coined the term “creative destruction” for the process of incessant product and process innovation mechanism by which new production units (jobs, businesses, industries) replace outdated ones. Continue Reading...

September 10, 2015

These Prisoners Are Finding Purpose Through Welding (And So Could You)

With the rise of the information economy, many millennials have steered clear from blue-collar jobs and manual labor, often prodded by their parents to pursue a “real education” and “a better life. Continue Reading...

September 09, 2015

Cultural Task #1: Crucify Our Incipient Darwinism

One of the long-running mistakes of the church has been its various confinements of cultural engagement to particular spheres (e.g. churchplace ministry) or selective “uses” (e.g. evangelistic conversion). But even if we manage to broaden the scope of our stewardship — recognizing that God has called us to pursue truth, goodness, and beauty across all spheres of creation — our imaginations will still require a strong injection of the transformative power of Jesus. Continue Reading...

September 02, 2015

Can Capitalism Save the Arts?

Capitalism is routinely castigated as an enemy of the arts, with much of the finger-pointing bent toward monsters of profit and efficiency. Other critiques take aim at more systemic features, fearing that the type of industrialization that markets sometimes tend toward will inevitably detach artists from healthy social contexts, sucking dry any potential for flourishing as a result. Continue Reading...

August 28, 2015

Is Bitcoin Hostile to Property Rights?

Over the last couple of years there has been a lot of criticism over the crypto-currency Bitcoin—some of which I’ve made myself (I think it is doomed as a currency but would be a great “alternative to Western Union”). Continue Reading...

August 25, 2015

Income Inequality And Poverty Aren’t The Same Thing

Income inequality and poverty are separate issues. For many people this is obvious. But there are numerous Christians who believe that income inequality is an important issue because they assume it is a proxy for poverty. Continue Reading...

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