Public Policy

April 18, 2016

Should we give smartphones to the homeless?

Across the globe, extreme poverty has been reduced by the advent and ubiquity of a simple tool: cell phones. As USAID says, mobile phones “fundamentally transform the way people in the developing world interact with one another and their governments, and access basic health, education, business and financial services.” Continue Reading...

April 18, 2016

Just Render Unto Caesar Already: The IRS and Frivolous Tax Arguments

In an attempt to trap Jesus, some Pharisees and Herodians asked him, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?” In response, Jesus said, “Why put me to the test? Continue Reading...

April 15, 2016

Video: Rev. Robert Sirico tangles with Sen. Barbara Boxer on Energy, Environment

Video source: The Harry Read Me File. More clips from the hearing here. On Wednesday, the Rev. Robert A. Sirico, co-founder and president of the Acton Institute, testified at a hearing before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public works. Continue Reading...

April 15, 2016

Is Paying Taxes a Christian Responsibility?

After almost three decades of filling out increasing complex tax forms, you’d think I’d be used to it (or at least resigned to the onerous task). But every tax season I complain even more than I did the year before. Continue Reading...

April 15, 2016

A Policy Solution to Fix Inequality and Boost GDP

Andrew Biggs of AEI has a piece up today at Forbes addressing the gender pay gap and provides a neat solution: “forbid women from staying at home with their children.” As Biggs points out, such a policy would address perhaps the greatest root cause of gender pay inequality: varied work experience attributable to choices women make. Continue Reading...

April 14, 2016

Tesla Motors Releases a Car for the Masses That Runs on Coal

Electric cars are not a new invention, nor are they as popular as they once were. (They debuted in 1890 and by 1900 electric cars accounted for around a third of all vehicles on the road.) Continue Reading...

April 12, 2016

4 Reasons to Support School Choice from Pope Francis’s ‘Amoris Laetitia’

Pope Francis’s recently released apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia has received considerable attention because of the issue of divorce and communion. But the 60,000+ word document has much more to say about family life than the dissolution of marriage. Continue Reading...

April 05, 2016

Payday lending is a debt trap. But regulatory ‘solutions’ may be even worse.

What’s the biggest problem with payday loans? The obvious answer would seem to be “high interest rates.” But interest rates are often tied to credit risk, and so charging high interest rates is not always wrong. Continue Reading...

April 04, 2016

A ‘moral imperative’ or just another exercize in green politicking?

This past Friday, I blogged about the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s recent decision to allow a vaguely worded proxy resolution proceed to a vote. The resolution was submitted by, among others, members of the religious shareholder activist group the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility. Continue Reading...

March 14, 2016

Elon Musk on the Problem with Regulators

“Most of economics can be summarized in four words: ‘People respond to incentives,’” says economist Steven E. Landsburg. “The rest is commentary.” When governments create a regulation, they are creating an incentive for individuals and businesses to respond in a particular way. Continue Reading...

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