Acton Institute Powerblog Archives

Post Tagged 'economics'

November 25, 2009

The Novelty of ‘New’ Economics

Some of the aspects of the movement in ‘new economics’ highlighted by Sumita Kale sound quite promising. For instance, it is true that “many issues of economic policy (traditionally called ‘welfare economics’) are primarily ethical-economics in nature, and should be informed by moral philosophy rather than economics in isolation.” Continue Reading...
November 23, 2009

Hell and Capitalism

Contrary to the belief of some, the two realities referred to in the title of this post are not identical. But the discussion around a recent Boston Globe article reminds me of the saying from Jerry Taylor, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, “Capitalism without the threat of bankruptcy is like Christianity without the threat of hell. Continue Reading...
October 21, 2009

Tocqueville at IU

The Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis at Indiana University has announced the launch of a new initiative focused on the thought of Alexis de Tocqueville. The Tocqueville Program aims “to foster an understanding of the central importance of principles of freedom and equality for democratic government and moral responsibility, as well as for economic and cultural life.” Continue Reading...
October 12, 2009

Potential and the Peace Prize

In his book Elements of Justice (reviewed in the Journal of Markets & Morality here), University of Arizona philosophy and economics professor David Schmidtz introduces the idea of desert not simply as a compensatory notion, but also as including a promissory aspect. Continue Reading...
September 23, 2009

Clergy and Economists: Allies Not Adversaries

We welcome a new contributor to the Acton Commentary crew: Dr. Dwight R. Lee, the William J. O’Neil Endowed Chair in Global Markets and Freedom at Southern Methodist University. In this week’s commentary, Lee discusses how the social objectives of clergy and economists are remarkably similar, even though their “windows on the world” suggest different approaches to achieving the shared aim of building a better, more humane society. Continue Reading...
August 04, 2009

Cash for Clunkers and the Poor

I just read today that the cars traded in for the Cash for Clunkers program are rendered unusable by running liquid glass through the engines. Has anyone considered the impact of this on the poor? Continue Reading...
July 29, 2009

Public Discourse: Rethinking Economics in the Post-Crisis World

The Public Discourse recently published my article, Rethinking Economics in the Post-Crisis World. Text follows: In the wake of the financial crisis, we need an economics with greater humility about its predictive power and an increased understanding of the complicated human beings who, when the discipline is rightly understood, lie at its center. Continue Reading...
July 27, 2009

Biblical Reasons to Give

Dr. David Murray of Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary investigates the concept of “biblical fundraising,” reasons to continue to give in the midst of difficult economic times, in the latest edition of his vcast, “puritanPod.” Continue Reading...