Latest Posts

May 05, 2020

The great price of America’s great lockdown

One reason why economists are viewed as modern-day Cassandras is that they tell us many things we don’t want to hear. Economics points relentlessly to the costs and benefits associated with particular decisions about alternative uses of scarce resources. Continue Reading...
May 04, 2020

Gavin Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer and the limits of science

There have been many responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in all spheres of life from businesses, educational institutions, churches, and within close intimate human relationships. Most of these responses have arisen spontaneously as people’s duties to protect themselves and others, both individuals and communities, have become plain to them. Continue Reading...
May 01, 2020

Why I worked this May Day

Today, I am working from Rome. It is Labor Day here–La Festa dei lavoratori–one of those many guaranteed Italian holidays which we are not supposed to spend in the office. Continue Reading...
May 01, 2020

‘Planet of the Humans’: Michael Moore goes off the (ideological) grid

Imagine you have just wrapped up another Earth Day celebration at your church (online only this year) and as long time chair of the Creation Care committee, you reflect on all the accomplishments: banning Styrofoam coffee cups and plastic bottles; mandating locally sourced and sustainably farmed organic food at all hospitality events; convincing your pastor to offer sermons and “climate blessings” provided by the mother church’s Social Justice office. Continue Reading...
May 01, 2020

Markets, populism and a fading American dream

The political divisions that started erupting across America in 2015 are about many things. These include the meaning of national sovereignty, the sense of a growing chasm between the political class and everyone else, and angst about what many believe to be unwarranted accelerations in wealth and income inequalities. Continue Reading...