Poverty

May 16, 2016

Video: Michael Matheson Miller Critiques Celebrity Poverty Campaigns

Acton Institute Research Fellow and Director of Poverty, Inc. Michael Matheson Miller made an appearance on Fox Business Channel last week to discuss how his documentary addresses the issue of celebrity efforts at poverty alleviation, noting that often, such campaigns can do more harm than good. Continue Reading...

May 06, 2016

Fair Trade, Microfinance, Orphans, and Social Entrepreneurship

Poverty, Inc. co-producer Mark R. Weber shares his commitment to discomfort as a necessary function of growth at the Jubilee Professional conference in Pittsburgh, 2016. Poverty, Inc. is a critically acclaimed documentary that has earned over 50 international film festival honors and the $100,000 Templeton Freedom Award. Continue Reading...

May 04, 2016

In Italy, Stealing Food Out of Hunger Is No Longer a Crime

Five year ago, Roman Ostriakov, a homeless Ukrainian living in Italy, attempted to steal cheese and sausages worth $4.50 (€4.07). Before he could leave the supermarket, though, Ostriakov was caught and convicted of theft. Continue Reading...

April 19, 2016

Video: Freedom and the Poverty Industry

Kris Mauren, executive director of the Acton Institute, kicks off the second season of the Free Market Series, a television program for American and Canadian audiences produced by The World Show in partnership with the Montreal Economic Institute and broadcast on PBS affiliates. Continue Reading...

April 08, 2016

How a Cuban Ball Player Escaped Communism for the Majors (and Much More)

Three years ago, Dalier Hinojosa was making the equivalent of $5 to $20 per month playing baseball in the state-run Cuban league. Having now defected from the country, escaping first to Haiti and now to America, Hinojosa will make $514,000 this season, playing for the Phillies. Continue Reading...

March 17, 2016

How to Avoid the ‘Messiah Complex’ in Short-Term Missions

As many are beginning to realize, and as the new documentary, Poverty, Inc., details at length, the foreign aid movement has largely failed the global poor, promoting top-down solutions at the expense of bottom-up enterprises and institutions. Continue Reading...

March 14, 2016

Most Americans Donate Little or Nothing to Charity

Most Americans believe that it is very important for them to be a generous person. Yet almost half did not give to charity in the past year, and less than a quarter gave more than $500. Continue Reading...

March 10, 2016

Race, mass incarceration, and drug policy

With the 2010 publication of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Ohio State University law professor Michelle Alexander, the conversation about America’s exploding prison population singularly became focused on the intersection of race, poverty, and the War on Drugs. Continue Reading...

March 03, 2016

Why Cultural Capital Is Necessary for Economic Flourishing

Western activists and foreign aid experts often pretend as though material redistribution is enough to elevate the world’s poor. All we must do is give people the “tools” to do their work, they’ll say, and developing nations will take it from there. Continue Reading...

February 22, 2016

How Trump and Sanders Plan to Raise Taxes on the Poor and Working Class

Imagine that a presidential candidate promised to raise taxes on everyone. Under the new proposal, both the wealthy and middle classes would pay more. But as a percentage of a person’s income, the tax increase would disproportionately affect the poor and working class. Continue Reading...

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