Note: This is post #85 in a weekly video series on basic economics. The last entry in this series considered how institutions can incentivize the creation of new ideas. Because of this connection, the Founding Fatherswrote a protection mechanism for new ideas into the U.S. Constitution in the form of patents. But arepatents the only (or even best) way to reward good ideas? In this video by Marginal Revolution University,Alex Tabarrok examinestwo more incentive options: prizes, and subsidies. (If you...

Despite the countless blessings of modernity, expansions in freedom and economic prosperity have been panied by a widespread decrease munity involvement and steady increase in loneliness. As Michael Hendrix put it, “Prosperity has afforded our independence from neighbors and networks.” Thanks to thinkers such as Robert Putnam, Charles Murray, and Yuval Levin, as well as politicians such as Mike Lee and Ben Sasse, our attention has shifted to how we might reignite the vibrant civic and associational life of our...

Every year tens of thousands of shareholders in Berkshire Hathaway descend on Omaha, Nebraska for the “Woodstock for capitalists.” The rock stars e to see are two elderly giants of value investing, Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger. What exactly is the appeal? To find out, Paul D. Glader, an associate professor of Journalism, Media and Entrepreneurship at The King’s College in New York, joined the crowds at the “church of Warren Buffet.” Glader writes about his experience for the inaugural...

On this episode of Radio Free Acton, John Wilsey, affiliate scholar of theology and history at Acton, speaks with Allen Guelzo, professor of the Civil War Era at Gettysburg college, about reconstruction in the South after the Civil War. This discussion is a preview of Professor ing Acton Lecture Series talkthe subject of Abraham Lincoln’s moral constitution on August 9 at Acton Headquarters in Grand Rapids, MI. Then, on the Upstream segment, Acton’s director of publishing, Jordan Ballor, and Robert...

President John Magufuli rose to power in Tanzania in 2015 with 58% of the popular vote. A populist and master of publicity, Magufuli gathered support all over the nation and now leads one of Africa’s most populous nations. He ran with the promise of cutting corruption and helping mon Tanzanian, and in the beginning of his presidency, it seemed that he would deliver on the promises he made. President John Magufuli Photo: Wikimedia Commons However, during 2016, he began waging...

mentary on Trump’s meeting with Vladimir Putin ranges from “a great idea and a good idea” to “treasonous.” But outside the traditional U.S. talking points, an Eastern European leader says the summit was “a missed opportunity” to promote faith and liberty. Mihail Neamtu, Ph.D., a public intellectual in Romania, analyzes the NATO summit and Trump’s meeting with Vladimir Putin in anew essayfor Acton’sReligion & Liberty Transatlantic website. Neamtu writes that Trump did not point out the source of Russia’s ings:...

“Tomorrow I leave this land of hope and return to our Western countries – the countries of despair,” wrote George Bernard Shaw as he prepared to depart Stalin’s Soviet Union in 1931. Many Western intellectuals idolized the USSR as a viable economic alternative to the free market – and a certain variety of Western Catholic now sees Vladimir Putin as the leader of an analogous movement. At the Acton Institute’s Religion & Liberty Transatlantic website, Stefano Magni writes: [I]t is...

In 2000, two parents founded a pizzeria in Rome with the goal of employing people with Down syndrome. Inspired by their son, who had the condition, they named itLa Locanda dei Girasoli (translated as “The Sunflower Inn”). Today, the restaurant employs eight differently-abled people (five with Down syndrome) and boasts a 4.5-star review on TripAdvisor, making it a destination of sorts. According to their website, the restaurant’s goal is to “promote the employment of people with Down syndrome, ennobling and...

Roman Catholics and Protestants alike have forgotten that Protestants had a natural law theory, says E. J. Hutchinson in this week’s Acton Commentary. To be sure, the work is of historical interest, as a testimony to Melanchthonian and, more broadly, Protestant thinking on natural law in the 16th and 17th centuries. That fact alone is not without significance, given that many people — Roman Catholics and Protestants alike – have forgotten that Protestants had a natural law theory (or, rather...

Ideas about the free market are spreading to Europe. Alejandro Chafuen recently spoke at a conference in Portugal and shared the work Acton has plished. Alejandro Chafuen, Acton’s Managing Director, International, chaired the Faith and Liberty session and award ceremony during the 2018 Estoril Political Forum EPF. He described some of the key aspects of this event organized by the Institute for Political Studies IEP at the Portuguese Catholic University UCP. The Portuguese Catholic University is a fifty year old...