Latest Posts

July 25, 2017

Evaluating Trump’s tax reforms

In April, the Trump administration provided a broad outline of proposed reforms, including simplifying tax brackets, eliminating the marriage penalty, and creating child care deductions. The National Catholic Register recently published an article on the reforms, focusing on its effect on the family. Continue Reading...
July 25, 2017

New teaching program aims to revive Catholic education

For the past decade, Catholic education has been on the decline. Data from the 2016-2017 National Catholic Education Association Report shows that since 2006, the number of Catholic schools has decreased by 14 percent and the number of students attending Catholic school has decreased by 17.6 percent. Continue Reading...
July 25, 2017

Maximizing profit under competition

Note: This is post #42 in a weekly video series on basic microeconomics. In a competitive market, a company can’t control how much they charge for goods and services. So how do firms maximize profits when they don’t control prices? Continue Reading...
July 24, 2017

How did money-lending stop being a sin?

“Moneylending has been taboo for most of human history,” notes Alex Mayyasi. “So how did usury stop being a sin and become respectable finance?” Today, a banker listening to a theologian seems like a curiosity, a category error. Continue Reading...
July 24, 2017

Work too much? You might have the ‘Proletariat Touch’

Two weeks ago, a group of scholars from around the world gathered in Notre Dame, Indiana for Holy Cross College’s Labor and Leisure Conference. Among the many present was scholar Joseph Zahn, who presented his paper, “The Status of Leisure in the Human Person: Whether Leisure is a Virtue?” Continue Reading...
July 21, 2017

Explainer: What you should know about civil asset forfeiture

Earlier this week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the Justice Department would be reinstating the Equitable Sharing Program, a controversial policy related to civil asset forfeiture. Several states have been making it more difficult to apply such forfeitures so this allows state and local law enforcement to explicitly circumvent state forfeiture restrictions. Continue Reading...