Note: This is the latest entry in the Acton blog series, “What Christians Should Know About Economics.” For other entries inthe series seethis post. The Term: Time Value of Money What It Means: The time value of money (TVM) is the concept that because of potential earning capacity, money available at the present time is worth more than the same amount at a future time. Why It Matters: Would you rather receive $100 today or $100 one year in the...

The rise of globalization and the expansion of trade are continuously decried for their disruptive effects, particularly as they apply to munity.” Indeed, our strides in global connectedness have e at a local cost, with the small and familiar being routinely replaced by the big and blurry, the intimate with the superficial, and so on. The shift is real and widespread, but it needn’t be the framework of the future. Disruption is sure to continue as collaboration expands and innovation...

In a recent article published for The Catholic World Report Samuel Gregg highlights some similarities between Pope Francis and the former president of Argentina, Juan Perón. Gregg asks: “Does a long-deceased Latin American populist provide us with insight into Pope Francis?” Juan Perón served as the president of Argentina from 1946-1955, while Pope Francis was just a teenager, and again from 1973-1974. According to Gregg, the economic views of this potentially influential leader on Pope Francis are: “best described as...

“[W]hen the center of the global economy is the god of money,” Pope Francis stated recently in an interview, “[t]errorism grows.” Curious about the Pope’s somewhat economistic explanation for Islamist terrorism,Samuel Gregg asks, “do factors such as economic poverty and greed really function as major causes of Islamist terrorism?” He recently wrote an article for the Stream examining this. The available research on this question, Gregg points out, suggests not. As he summarizes: In short, terrorists generally aren’t economically poor...

“An emphasis on the need for practical use is beneficial when applied to goods in the market, so as to meet the ever changing demands of the consumer,” says Caroline Roberts in this week’s Acton Commentary. “But the value of some goods cannot be reduced to a selling price.” One such good is beauty. Although the market has a role to play in the creation of beautiful things, this essential good can only be fully realized through the work of...

Because of high inflation and unemployment, Venezuela has themost miserable economy in the world. The country currently has aninflation rate of 180 percent (which is expected to increase1,642 percent by next year) and the currentunemployment rate is 17 percent, (which is expected to increase to nearly 21 percent next year). Shortages of basic goods like food, toilet paper, and medicine has devastateda nation where more than70 percent of the peoplealready live in poverty. The country has e so crippled by...

The current presidential election has once again brought to the fore a question we ask every electoral cycle: Which candidate can be most trusted with nuclear weapons? The consideration given that question, though, is rather modest relative toits importance. Indeed, for those who are concerned about ordered liberty there are few questions more important than who should be in charge of the most powerful arsenal of weapons on earth. We are giving a single individual unprecedented control over weaponry that...

This week, the Catholic Church celebrates World Youth Day in Krakow, Poland. Fittingly, Pope St. John Paul II was chosen as one of the patron saints of the week, both as a figure who fits into the theme of the Year of Mercy and as a beloved Polish Saint who once served as the Archbishop of Krakow. John Paul II has a central place not only in the history and tradition of the Catholic Church, but also in world history...

In recent years, Christian leaders, teachers, and pastors have putrenewed focuson the importance of integrating faith and work, recognizing the eternal significance of economic activity. Yet despite the array of resources and solid teaching on the subject,many Christianscontinue to struggle with feelings of apathy or ambivalence when es to their work.In my own discussions, it’s the mon responseI encounter: “I understand that God is glorified through my work,” they’ll say. “I understand that he’s gifted me and called me and...

In America, the most effective “anti-poverty program” is the institution of work (more specifically, ensuring people have a full-time job). The second most effective program for preventing people from being poor is the institution of marriage. The poverty rate among married couples in America is around 6 percent, and among married couples who both have full-time jobs the poverty rate is practically zero (0.001 percent). In contrast, the poverty rate among single-dads/moms is much higher: 25 percent for single dads...