Acton Institute Powerblog Archives

Post Tagged 'economics'

July 22, 2013

Detroit: A Collapse of Real Integrity

Douglas Wilson has an interesting take on Detroit’s bankruptcy: “like a drunk trying to make it to the next lamp post.” Why this analogy? Wilson says we first have to understand that Detroit is inevitably in a defaulting situation; the question now is what kind of default. Continue Reading...
July 16, 2013

Jonathan Witt: ‘Memo to Tinseltown’

The newly released movies, Lone Ranger and Iron Man 3 both feature an evil capitalist as the villain. Writing at The American Spectator, Jonathan Witt addresses this common practice in Hollywood: This media stereotype is so persistent, so one-sided, and so misleading that an extended definition of capitalism is in order. Continue Reading...
July 15, 2013

D.C.’s ‘Big Box’ Minimum Wage Hurts the Poor

A mere recital of the economic policies of governments all over the world is calculated to cause any serious student of economics to throw up his hands in despair. What possible point can there be, he is likely to ask, in discussing refinements and advancements in economic theory, when popular thought and the actual policies of governments…have not yet caught up with Adam Smith? Continue Reading...
June 13, 2013

How to Measure an Economy

Among the most significant economic challenges in America today is getting Americans to understand what an economy is. When the Latin term oeconomia was first used in the 1500s it meant “household management.” Continue Reading...
June 06, 2013

The Problem With ‘Buy American’

The call to “buy American” is one we hear frequently or see plastered on the bumper of the car in front of us. Donald Boudreaux, senior economics advisor at Mercatus Center, explains the problem with this ideal in a letter to the Washington Post: Let’s make a deal.  Continue Reading...
June 05, 2013

‘Economic Examination of Conscience’

Kishore Jayabalan, Rome director of the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty, clarified remarks made by Pope Francis at a May 16 reception of new Vatican ambassadors. The pope, calling for an examination of the world’s relationship with money, said we are facing “dire consequences” due to the power we give money. Continue Reading...