Acton Institute Powerblog Archives

Post Tagged 'economics'

April 04, 2013

Cell Phones, Microfinance, and Poverty

A recent report by the United Nations states that out of the world’s seven billion people, six billion have a mobile phone, but only 4.5 billion have a modern toilet. In India, there are almost 900 million cell phone users, but nearly 70 percent of the population doesn’t have access to “proper sanitation.” Continue Reading...
April 03, 2013

Commentary: Buying Off Discontent

“There has always been a generous spirit in America towards the downtrodden, but it’s time to realize that we are no longer being generous: the government is leading us merrily along the path of fiscal fugue,” writes Elise Hilton. Continue Reading...
March 28, 2013

Think Tanks Taking a Stand Against Crony Capitalism

Alejandro Chafuen, president and chief executive officer of Atlas Economic Research Foundation and board member of the Acton Institute, recently wrote a piece for Forbes.com about crony capitalism. Chafuen used to spend his summers in Argentina, so he begins his article with a story about a friend from Argentina. Continue Reading...
March 27, 2013

Video: Samuel Gregg on Cyprus and the EU

Last night on Real News on The Blaze TV, Acton Institute Director of Research Samuel Gregg joined the panel to add his analysis of the current financial crisis in the nation of Cyprus, and the potential impacts that this crisis could have for other European Union nations that are currently trying to deal with financial issues of their own. Continue Reading...
March 22, 2013

What Economics Can’t Explain

Tyler Cowen has an interesting column in last Sunday’s New York Times, arguing that despite run-of-the-mill objections to “cold” and “heartless” economic analysis, economics is, as a science, “egalitarian at its core”: Economic analysis is itself value-free, but in practice it encourages a cosmopolitan interest in natural equality. Continue Reading...
March 18, 2013

Michael Miller: Pope Francis Says Human Person is at Center of Economy

In today’s American Spectator, Acton’s Michael Matheson Miller focuses on Pope Francis’ “street smarts“: a man who knows poverty and economics at the most important and basic level. It’s a counter-intuitive tale of one of Latin America’s most significant bishops living in modest lodgings, cooking his own meals, and riding the crowded public transportation system in Buenos Aires. Continue Reading...
March 15, 2013

Will Pope Francis Go Left on Economics?

Will Pope Francis promote a leftist view of economics? Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey asked that question of Kishore Jayalaban, Director of Acton’s Rome office. Jayalaban says the impression that Francis will push economic arguments to the left is a misunderstanding of both Catholic economic thought and the economic situation in Argentina—where capitalism is much more rife with cronyism and corporatism than in the US. Continue Reading...