Are we nearing the end of human work? Is automation reaching the point where there won’t be enough work left for human beings? And how would the loss of work affect our humanity and flourishing? Victor Claar, an affiliate scholar of the Acton Institute, addressed these questions in a brief talk at the IMAGINE Conference 2018 organized by the Adam Smith Center on the topic “Automation and the Future of Work and Welfare.” ...

Today marks the 17th anniversary of the worst terrorist attack ever on American soil. Here are five facts you should know about what happened in the aftermath of the events on September 11, 2001: 1. It took 99 days—until December 19, 2001—for thefires at Ground Zeroto be extinguished.Cleanup at Ground Zero wasn’t pleted until May 30, 2002. It took 3.1 million hours of labor to clean up 1.8 million tons of debris at a total cost of cleanup of $750...

Hurricane Florence has struck the Carolinas, dumping massive amounts of rain that could trigger catastrophic floods inland. Here are five facts you should know about these types of deadly storms: 1. A hurricane is a form of tropical storm that form over warm ocean waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean, Caribbean Sea, southern Atlantic Ocean, and Gulf of Mexico. When the winds of a tropical storm are less than 38 mph, it is called a tropical depression, and when the...

Hurricanes always leave two things in their aftermath: broken windows and articles endorsing the broken window fallacy. As economist Don Boudreaux wrote six years ago, “Americans will soon be flooded mentary that assures us that the silver lining around the destruction caused by hurricane Sandy is a stronger economy. Such nonsense always follows natural disasters.”The Atlantic, wanting to get a jump on being wrong, published an article that same day arguing that Hurricane Sandy would “stimulate the economy” in two...

On this episode of Radio Free Acton, Caroline Roberts, producer and host of Radio Free Acton, speaks with Joseph Connors, Assistant Professor of Economics at Florida Southern College, about the global decline in poverty and how we can continue to reduce it. Then, on the Upstream segment, Bruce Edward Walker talks to Alex Chafuen, Acton’s Managing Director, International, on “Operation Finale” a new film depicting the capture of infamous Nazi Adolf Eichmann after he escaped to Argentina following WWII. Check...

“During the seven-decade political struggle in the Netherlands to allow parents to select schools corresponding to their religious convictions, Abraham Kuyper articulated a concept of “sphere sovereignty” that translates, in policy terms, into principled structural pluralism,” says Charles L. Glenn in this week’s Acton Commentary. “That Dutch experience, and its resolution in the “Pacification” of 1917, is highly relevant for the present situation in the United States.” Popular schooling is often a primary focal-point for attempts to make effective the...

In a short film from StoryCorps, sanitation workers Angelo Bruno and Eddie Nieves reflect on their time spent sharing a garbage route in Manhattan’s West Village. Their story offers a striking portrait of the dignity, meaning, and transcendent value of work done in the service of neighbors. Although modern society tends to elevate certain jobs or careers above others—garbage collection is typically not high on the list—Bruno and Nieves retain a self-awareness and clear confidence about the immense value they’re...

As pletes its transition into the Age of Information, economists are struggling to identify the drivers and develop their predictive models accordingly. Alas, as businesses continue to grow and evolve more rapidly, and as the corresponding systems continue to increase plexity, many economists still view individuals and businesses as mostly static and reactionary. “Mainstream economists treat the firm as if it were an inorganic particle that does nothing but react to forces around it,” writes economist Arnold Kling in National...