There are ten vital foundational lessons that should be taught in any introductory course on economics, says Don Boudreaux, a professor of economics at George Mason University. The first three lessons on his list are, (1) [T]he world is full of both desirable and undesirable unintended consequences – consequences that are largely invisible but that even a course in ‘mere’ principles of economics gives us great vision that enables us to “see,” (2) intentions are not results; (3) our world...

“The real question is not does morality inform the market,” says Rev. Gregory Jensen in the second entry of this week’s Acton Commentary, “but whose morality informs the market.” Consumer disapproval of Black Friday has caused a drop in demand. Consequently, retailers have curtailed their investment in these kinds of sale events. If economics is agnostic as to what motivates the change in demand, as a Christian I can’t be. Retailers are responding to the moral cues of shoppers and...

It was a big fish. The poor people wanted to eat it. Everyone else wanted to choose whether to eat the big fish. The crusader sharks against genetic engineering stole the big fish. The poor people stayed hungry. The other people could not choose to eat the big fish. They had hunger cramps in their stomachs. – Apologies to Ernest Hemingway e to this: GMOInside.org is celebrating supermarket chain Costco Wholesale’s decision to refrain from selling AquaBounty Technology’s genetically engineered...

“Nothing in the Constitution has been so judicially perverted from its original intent as the establishment clause,” says Zack Pruitt in the first entry of this week’s Acton Commentary. “The same clause went from protecting the people from a tyrannical state-run church to punishing those who dare to voluntarily pray on government property.” A football coach in Washington was recently suspended from his duties because he made a habit of praying at midfield following games. Players or students were never...

Conference Panel for “In Dialogue With Laudato Si'”, December 3, 2015 Today at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome, the Acton Institute has organized a half-day conference called “In Dialogue With Laudato Si’: Can Free Markets Help Us Care For Our Common Home?” in response to Pope Francis’ appeal in Laudato Si’for“a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet.” In advance of the conference, Acton Institute President Rev. Robert A. Sirico was...

My many mentors over the course of my lifetime thus far have advised me, to a person, to be more optimistic and less cynical. The glass, they told me, always should be perceived as half-full regardless the circumstances. Remembering this advice, I’ll forego reprimanding the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its dithering the past 19 years whether genetically engineered salmon should be sold and, if so, labeled. Instead, I celebrate their long-awaited affirmative decision to allow the sale of...

Over the past few months there has been a lot of discussion about refugees and resettlement. But not much is said about the logistical problems the refugees have to e. For example, how exactly do they get to the United States? The answer is that they have to travel—and thatcosts money. For those who can’t afford to cover the cost themselves, the U.S. government issues interest-free loans through the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program. The loan repayments are due every month,...

Ask most Americans why religious liberty is considered the “first freedom” and they’ll likely say it’s because es first in the Bill of Rights. While technically true (it es first) that wasn’t the intention of the original framers of the Constitution The original Bill of Rights included two other amendments that were listed ahead of what we now consider the “First Amendment” but that failed to be ratified. If the placement of “first” on the list was a mere historical...