Public Domain. As summer in Michigan begins to wind down, Religion & Liberty Summer 2017 takes a look at several important issues. We explore religious liberty in Eastern Europe, “pink” issues, Martin Luther, cooking and recidivism, the “Jon Stewart of Egypt” and more. For the cover feature, I decided to revisit a subject we previously covered. We tracked down several graduates of Edwin’s Leadership and Restaurant Institute (which was profiled in the Fall 2015 issue of R&L) and talked to...

Series Note: Jobs are one of the most important aspects of a morally functioning economy. They help us serve the needs of our neighbors and lead to human flourishing both for the individual and munities. Conversely, not having a job can adversely affect spiritual and psychological well-being of individuals and families. Because unemployment is a spiritual problem, Christians in America need to understand and be aware of the monthly data on employment. Each month highlight the latest numbers we need...

It’s time we “salute” the large group of American workers whose mute to their jobs in the city takes as long as 60 minutes or more. For those living in New York City, San Francisco, or Washington D.C., mute to and from work is often burdensome. The many city dwellers who help to drive America’s economic output deserve thanks. James Bruce, associate professor of philosophy at John Brown University and Acton University faculty memberrecently wrote a piece in the Wall...

Note: This is post #47 in a weekly video series on basic microeconomics. AIDS has killed more than 36 million people worldwide, notes economist Alex Tabarrok. There are drugs available to treat AIDS, but the price in the U.S. of one pill is 25 times higher than its cost. Why is this life-saving drug so expensive? In this video by Marginal Revolution University, Tabarrok shows how patent rights have created a monopoly in the U.S. market for AIDS medication, causing...

There are generally two views of markets. The first is that markets can do no wrong. The other is that markets fail—and fail often—which is why we need government intervention. But as Nick Schulz and Arnold Kling note, there is a third way that can be summarized as “Markets fail. That’s why we need markets.” Over the past two generations, a different view of markets and government has begun to emerge, one whose moment may have arrived. It is a...

Americans spent more on taxes than food and clothes in 2016, is the main point conservative media outlets are taking away from the Bureau of Labor Statistics recently released report on Consumer Expenditures for 2016. Because we are entering a season of debate on tax reform, this is an obvious angle to take on such data. But focusing only on the taxes can obscure the good news: the average American household spends a relatively small percentage of its e on...

Because of high inflation and unemployment, Venezuela has themost miserable economy in the world. The inflation rate over the past 12 months was 460 percentand the unemployment rate is so high the government stopped reporting it last year. How did a country that once had a functioning democracy, a rapidly developing economy, and a growing middle class sink so low? In a word: socialism. As Debbie D’Souza, a native Venezuelan and political activist, explains, “Socialism is a drug. And like...

Reckoning with Race: America’s Failure. Gene Dattel. Encounter Books, 2017. 312 pages. Long before they exploded into violence at Charlottesville, race relations seemed so intractable that Alexis de Tocqueville wrote “the white and black races will [never] … be upon an equal footing.” Nearly two centuries later, this seems to be another doleful example of Tocqueville’s prescience. In Reckoning with Race: America’s Failure, which is to be released later this month, Gene Dattel chooses to concentrate on what he dubs...