Today marks the official launch of the new and improved website for the Journal of Markets & Morality. In addition to the new design, we also have included a search feature whereby anyone who wants can search back issues for keywords, authors, names, and so on. For example, a search for “Alexis de Tocqueville” yields 29 results, and a search for “subsidiarity” turns up 78! As is our current policy, everything up to the two most recent issues is free...

Fr. Robert Sirico appeared on Varney & Co. May 24. Here is his interview: Fr. Sirico on Varney & Co. ...

The problem munitarianism, claims Bradley C. S. Watson, is that it views religion as an instrumental good and individual virtue as destructive: es to sight as a movement that sees, far more clearly than liberalism, that the private sphere and private goods are rooted in, and in turn have an effect on, public goods. President Clinton, as a “new” Democrat, has effectively enlisted the intellectual backing of munitarian theorists in his efforts to distance himself and his party from the...

Dr. James E. Bruce, assistant professor of philosophy at John Brown University, has a review of Rev. Robert Sirico’s new book, Defending the Free Market: The Moral Case for a Free Economy, on the Library of Law and Liberty website. Bruce’s review offers an insightful primer to the book and does not lack for praise: Sirico at one point says that a pliment is “being told that I have put into words what someone has thought for a long time...

What is it like to engage the culture on a college campus through philosophy? Watch as Bruce McCluggage, Philosophy Instructor at Pike’s Peak Community College, shares firsthand what it is like to be On Call in munity college Culture as he interacts with students in the classroom, within philosophy club discussion groups and even at an atheist conference. Watch as Bruce explains how philosophy presents an amazing opportunity to be . . . On Call Through Philosophy Next Bruce talks...

Getting the government’s permission to work—occupational licensing—hurts both consumers and entrepreneurs. That’s the conclusion of two new reports, one a study conducted by the Institute for Justice and the other a survey by the Kauffman Foundation and . As the reports note, in the 1950s, only one in 20 U.S. workers needed government permission to pursue their chosen occupation. Today, it is closer to one in three. Yet research to date provides little evidence that licensing protects public health and...

If you haven’t ordered your copy of Defending the Free Market: The Moral Case for a Free Economy, what are you waiting for? For those who still need some convincing, Rev. Robert Sirico continues to make the media rounds, and we continue to bring you the highlights. Last night, Rev. Sirico was the guest of Raymond Arroyo on The World Over on the EWTN network; you can watch his 20 minute appearance below: Father Robert also made a radio appearance...

Acton Institute president and co-founder Rev. Robert Sirico’s appearance on public television’s “The World Show” with Robert Scully is set to air on various PBS outlets on May 31st. Check your local listings for further information. In the meantime, keep following the PowerBlog for clips and video surrounding the Defending the Free Market book release. ...

One of the powerful things about Memorial Day is that we live in munity and an America that is worthy of sacrifice. Many feel, for good reason, the foundational ideals of our Republic are in peril. The proclamation of the first Memorial Day by General John A. Logan in 1868 stated the importance of guarding the graves of those slain in battle with “sacred vigilance.” It is a calling bestowed upon all of us to toil for improvement of mon...

Last week I wondered about the student protests here in Quebec and the logic of the welfare state. In some conversations on these topics, I was challenged to consider the social meaning of phenomena like this (e.g. public protests of one kind or another). I’ll have some more to say about that later this week, I think, but for now, I think that it is true that from a certain point of view, regardless of the merits of an individual...