Note: This is post #19 in a weekly video series on basic microeconomics. Speculation is often considered to be morally dubious. But, can speculation actually be useful to the market process? In this video by Marginal Revolution University, economist Tyler Cowen shows that speculation can actually smooth prices over time and increase human flourishing. (If you find the pace of the videos too slow, I’d mend watching them at 1.5 to 2 times the speed. You can adjust the speed...

Today is the last day of National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. But ending human trafficking through education and awareness is a year-round task. As the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work notes, we need morepublic education around the practice of human trafficking in order to help aid the more than 20 million victims who live as modern-day slaves. “Trafficking and modern-day slavery is an plex, monster of a problem,” says Annalisa Enrile, USC clinical associate professor. “Our...

During his first week in office, President Trump has signed a number of executive orders, affecting a range of policies from trade to health care to immigration. Here is what you should know about executive orders: What is an executive order? An executive order is an official document, signed by the president, used to manage the Federal Government. Are executive orders legally binding? Yes, assuming they are limited to the scope of the executive action allowed by a president, an...

Togetherwithhis appointment of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education, yet another Trump administration official has ties to the Acton Institute. The Washington Free Beacon reported today that President Trump has appointed Victoria C. G. Coates, Ph.D., to serve as senior director for strategic assessments at the National Security Council (NSC). Action Institute – THE CRISIS OF LIBERTY IN THE WEST THE BLOOMSBURY HOTEL * LONDON, UK An art historian by training, she has a long record of service in foreign...

On this edition of Radio Free Acton, Hunter Baker, Micah Watson, Paul Bonicelli and Jordan Ballor discuss the prospects for a Christian democratic political movement in the United States. Hunter Baker isa university fellow and associate professor of political science at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee. He is also an affiliate scholar at the Acton Institute, and the organizer of a symposium on Christian Democracy and America in the latest issue ofPerspectives on Political Science. Contributors to the symposium includeMicah...

What just happened? Today, President Trump signed an executive order titled, “Reducing Regulation And Controlling Regulatory Costs.” The stated purpose of the executive order is “to manage the costs associated with the governmental imposition of private expenditures required ply with Federal regulations.” What does this executive order do? The order requires that for every one new regulation issued, at least two prior regulations must be identified for elimination, and that the “cost of planned regulations be prudently managed and controlled...

Perhaps the most utilitarian function of any intellectual journal is to exchange successful policies. Bad ideas cross borders, even oceans, but thankfully good ideas do, too. President Donald Trump’s most recent executive order to curtail federal regulation is one such example. Donald Trump signing executive orders in the Oval Office. Credit: White House Facebook Page. The order, covered by Joe Carter on Monday, holds that that for every new regulation added to the federal register, two must be repealed –...

Protesters shouting nationalist and anti-immigrant slogans disrupt a tribute in Brussels, Belgium to victims of terrorist attacks. March 2016. Credit: Kristof van /AFP/Getty Images. Earlier today Freedom House released the 2017 edition of their flagship report, “Freedom in the World.” It was not positive. Titled “Populists and Autocrats: The Dual Threat to Global Democracy,” it shows much erosion in various freedoms throughout the world. According to their website, Freedom House has published this important report since 1973 in order to...

In a new article for theLakeland Ledger, Rev.Robert Sirico, president and co-founder of the Acton Institute, explains why ordered liberty depends on virtue: What I have learned in these intervening decades is that it’s not enough simply to be a “free” society. It’s equally important to strive toward being a “virtuous” society as well. The Irish statesman Edmund Burke summed this idea up in the phrase “ordered liberty,” a concept incorporated in that patriotic hymn that calls for America to...

After growing up in poverty in East Los Angeles, Rudy Carrasco dedicated his adult life to pursuing passion” among those in need, working in urban ministry and investing heavily in munities. “I just wanted to see the miracles that God did in my life happen in the lives of others,” Carrasco explains in an excerpt from PovertyCure series. “…I’ve made lots of mistakes, but I’ve learned from others around me about what is most effective.” Through those experiences, Carrasco discovered...