Latest Posts

July 19, 2010

Fair Trade: Rhetoric and Reality

The NYT Freakonomics blog notes that the Fair Trade movement does not exist independently of the laws of economics: But the problem with Fair Trade coffee is that as the program scales up, the alternative market ethics it wants to sustain collapse. Continue Reading...
July 16, 2010

Subsidiarity in New Jersey

A little while ago, and in the context of the health care reform debate, Sam Gregg observed in this space that the American Catholic hierarchy had, to the detriment of church and country, neglected the importance of subsidiarity. Continue Reading...
July 16, 2010

God, Gettysburg, and Sins of Omission

There’s a reason why history is important. History is about knowing the truth about our past and therefore about ourselves. Not surprisingly, those who meddle with it usually do so from less-than-noble motives. Continue Reading...
July 15, 2010

Europe’s Choice: Populate or Perish

Also this week in Acton Commentary, Acton Research Director Samuel Gregg observes that “Europe’s declining birth-rate may also reflect a change in intellectual horizons.” Europe’s Choice: Populate or Perish by Samuel Gregg D.Phil. Continue Reading...
July 13, 2010

Still not Beyond Petroleum

Here’s OpenMarket: Plain and simple economics — not the alleged machinations of Big Oil or Congress’s unwillingness to put a price on carbon – explains why America remains dependent on petroleum. Continue Reading...
July 13, 2010

Secularism in Academe

You often hear that Europe is much more secular than America. Just take a look at the Netherlands, for instance. How much more secular can you get? But one place in which this stereotype rings false is in terms of academic institutions. Continue Reading...
July 12, 2010

Acton Lecture Series: Ecumenical Ethics & Economics

Join us in Grand Rapids on Thursday for the next Acton Lecture Series with Jordan Ballor, Research Fellow and Executive Editor, Journal of Markets & Morality. The lecture should be of interest to anyone whose church is a member or observer of ecumenical organizations. Continue Reading...
July 12, 2010

Walk, Pedal, Drive

Some of the assumptions built into the mainstream international aid and development movement are puzzling. Among them is the faulty assumption that the comparison that matters most is how the developing world is doing in relation to the developed. Continue Reading...