Religion & Liberty Online Archives

Public Policy

April 09, 2012

How Property Rights Solve Policy Problems

Whether a problem is a matter of “public policy” or “private-policy” often depends on how we think about property rights, says economist David R. Henderson. Take, for example, the debate about whether evolution or Intelligent Design theory should be taught in schools: Continue Reading...
April 05, 2012

Who Keeps the Keepers?

Sam Gregg’s response to President Obama’s latest invocation of the “my brother’s keeper” motif brings out one of the basic problems with applying this biblical question to public policy. As Gregg points out, the logic of the president’s usage points to the government as the institution of brotherly love: But who is the “I” that President Obama has in mind? Continue Reading...
April 02, 2012

On Call and Chemicals

As part of the On Call in Culture community, we are interviewing people in different areas of work to showcase what being On Call in Culture looks like on a daily basis. Continue Reading...
April 02, 2012

A Very Funny Conception of Liberty

The recent oral arguments presented before the Supreme Court about ObamaCare’s individual mandate have exposed a profound difference in how American’s conceive of liberty. In the the New York Times, Adam Liptak provides a revealing example: Continue Reading...
March 30, 2012

Marital Status and the Social Safety Net

“Unless incentives suddenly stopped mattering during this recession, says Casey B. Mulligan, an economics professor at the University of Chicago, “it appears that the expanding social safety net explains some of the excess nonemployment among unmarried women who are heads of households.” Continue Reading...