There is a paradox when es to profits, says economist Arnold Kling: while the profits that accrue to any given individual may be unjust, the profit system itself is necessary in order to have a modern, progressive society. There is no simple way for us to enjoy the benefits of the system while ing all of the instances of injustice. Yet despite the injustice, says Kling, the profit system is the most effective, humane way to organize economic activity. The...

Note: This is post #58 in a weekly video series on basic microeconomics. Here’s a surprising fact: Firms have an incentive to increase job safety, because then they can lower wages. In this video by Marginal Revolution University, economist Alex Tabarrok explores this claim in much greater depth and answers the questions: Why do riskier jobs often pay more? Why has job safety increased over the years? How does a firm’s profit motive play a role? (If you find the...

As Americans made their final arrangements for Thanksgiving, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond unveiled the annual Budget on Wednesday. Here’s what you need to know. The Budget will spend a total of £809 billion ($1 trillion U.S.), adding £41 billion to the national debt. It makes two policy changes to address the housing shortage, the most important issue to young Brits. Hammond pledged £15.3 billion to build 300,000 homes a year – but none on the so-called greenbelt,...

Note: Some PowerBlog readers might be wondering why the Acton Institute is holding a Rome, Italy, conference on November 29:Globalization, Justice, and the Economy on 16th and 17th Century Spanish scholasticism (The conference will be broadcast on LiveStream. More information here.) Below is an overview of the importance of this school of thought and the historical implications for the nascent era of globalization. With a royal charter established in 1218, a vibrant cathedral school became the Universidad de Salamanca, the...

Today is the unofficial first day of the holiday shopping season. Here are five facts you should know about BlackFriday. 1. The term “BlackFriday” was coined by the Philadelphia Police Department’s traffic squad in the 1950s. According to Philadelphianewspaper reporter Joseph P. Barrett, “It was the day that Santa Claus took his chair in the department stores and every kid in the city wanted to see him. It was the first day of the Christmas shopping season.” Barrettt first used...

During a season such as Christmas, when hyper-consumerism and hyper-generosity often converge in strange and mysterious ways, how much of our gift-giving is inefficient or wasteful? It’s a question that economists continue to ponder, but to which many a gift-giver is prone to shrug. In one sense, isn’t the whole pointto mirror the most extravagant gift of all? Why be concerned about “wasteful” giving? But if the starting points of our generosity e decidedly apathetic or misaligned with actual human...

Economic development is a key aspect of culture—and at the same time, a challenge to cultural norms. How should Christians reconcile such tension? What is culture’s impact upon the biblical mandate to create wealth for holistic transformation? Earlier this year two evangelical groups, theLausanne MovementandBAM Global, released apaper exploringwealth creation within global cultural perspectives to address these and other questions about culture and wealth creation. In particular, the paper examines the ‘anthropological temptation’: the temptation to idolize culture, and to...

By now the Pilgrims’ disastrous experiment with collectivism in Plymouth, Massachusetts, is well-known, in free market circles if not among the young. The story has been printed and popularized – Rush Limbaugh even recites it annually on his radio program. However, trade merce played another, lesser-known role in the first Thanksgiving – and America’s founding, history, and self-definition. Public schools still teach the familiar history of Thanksgiving: that American Indians taught starving Pilgrims useful practices like fertilization. A grateful Governor...

If there is one thing young people believe in collectively, it is their individuality. “No two people are alike,” the refrain goes. But in the age of Common Core, educational systems too often treat all students alike, glossing over their unique skills and abilities. A top-down, cookie-cutter curriculum and the decline of vocational education have left too many children, on both sides of the Atlantic, without an ability to exercise their gifts. Erik Lidström, who has written extensively on educational...

Saturday marked “Holodomor Remembrance Day,” honoring the millions of Ukrainians who died of forced starvation at the hands of the Soviets in the 1930s. Some 80 years later, and a quarter-century after the Soviet Union’s dissolution, the Russian government still denies that this atrocity constitutes a “genocide.” Two days earlier – Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. – Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova told the international press that the Ukrainian government’s use of the phrase “the genocide of Ukrainians” is...