Such simple concepts of economics as scarcity, the importance of contract enforcement and private property rights, and the retreat of global poverty seem altogether foreign to many influential people — including many who make economic policy. Continue Reading...
Latest Posts
November 13, 2020
Deutsche Bank’s work-from-home tax is economic insanity
As if 2020 could not get any worse, this week intellectuals unleashed another pandemic: a new proposed tax. Deutsche Bank suggested that the government lay a 5% “privilege” tax on employees who work from home, on the grounds that they “disconnect themselves from face-to-face society.” Continue Reading...
November 13, 2020
Applications now open: Mini-Grants on Free Market Economics
The Acton Institute’s Mini-Grants on Free Market Economics: Research & Teaching program continues for the upcoming 2021 academic year, and the application is now live. This grant program is intended to enhance the effectiveness of research and teaching about market economics for faculty at colleges, universities, and seminaries in the United States and Canada. Continue Reading...
November 11, 2020
Life in exile: Rabbi Jonathan Sacks on ‘creative minorities’
Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks recently passed away from cancer at the age of 72, completing a rich life and establishing a legacy as one of Judaism’s leading public intellectuals. As former Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom and a member of the House of Lords, Sacks had a unique ability to weave together Jewish insights across a range of intersecting areas – from philosophy and theology to economics and politics – leading to a distinctive moral witness amid the rise of secularization. Continue Reading...
November 10, 2020
America remains
From the ancient Greeks and Romans – from Heraclitus and Polybius to Livy – Western civilization came to accept the idea that all governments, but especially free ones, go through distinct organic and biological stages. Continue Reading...
November 10, 2020
Ride sharing in Nepal: a story of bottom-up empowerment
Over the past decade, ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft have led a transformative wave of gig-economy disruption, allowing drivers to work independently from taxi cab companies and the unions and bureaucracies that control them. Continue Reading...
November 09, 2020
6 quotes: Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, the former Chief Rabbi of the UK and a member of the House of Lords, passed away early on the morning of Saturday, November 7, 2020, following his third bout with cancer. Continue Reading...
November 09, 2020
The silver lining to Biden’s victory
This election is the final proof we didn’t need that the Republican Party of 2020 is truly the party of Donald Trump. He remade the party in imago Trumpi. As a result of his ascent within the party, many conservative ideas are ideologically homeless. Continue Reading...
November 06, 2020
Victories for liberty: 2020 state ballot initiatives
Whatever the outcome of the 2020 presidential race, liberty won numerous victories – and suffered a handful of setbacks – in state referendums nationwide. Voters in both “blue” and “red” states endorsed policies to advance individual initiative, limit government overreach, and establish equal justice under the law. Continue Reading...
November 04, 2020
Jordan Ballor discusses scarcity, theology, and economics on ‘Faithful Economics’
I was honored to be a guest on the Faithful Economics podcast, sponsored by the Association of Christian Economists (which also publishes the journal Faith & Economics). I joined host Steven McMullen of Hope College to talk about the dialogue between theology and economics. Continue Reading...