On May 18th, the spring 2017 Acton Lecture Series wrapped up with an address from Lawrence Reed, president of the Foundation for Economic Education. Reed’s talk was based on his recently released book,Real Heroes: Inspiring True Stories of Courage, Character, and Conviction. We’re pleased to share the video of his lecture below. ...

Professor Wim Decock In recognition of Professor Wim Decock’s outstanding research into the fields of theology, religion and economic history, the Acton Institute will be awarding him the 2017 Novak Award. Professor Wim Decock teaches legal history at the Universities of Leuven and Liège (Belgium). He is an associate fellow at Emory University’s Centre for the Study of Law and Religion (USA) and an affiliate researcher at the Max-Planck-Institute for European Legal History (Germany). Decock holds an M.A. in Classics,...

In response to increasing economic disruption and drastic social shifts in American life, Sen. Mike Lee recently launched the Social Capital Project, a multi-year research project dedicated to investigating “the evolving nature, quality, and importance of our associational life.” As I recently noted, the project’s first report highlights the connections between “associational life” and the nation’s economic success, stopping short ofspecific policy solutions. “In an era where many of our conversations seem to revolve around the individual and large institutions,...

The mind boggles as it tries prehend what could drive someone to bomb a crowd of concert-goers, many of them children, in the name of his or herreligion. Some, however, believe they have the answer: economic inequality. In a new essay for Religion & Liberty Transatlantic, Fr. Peter Farrington – a Coptic priest in the UK – notes that this facile explanation for the darkness that lies within the human heart enjoys the patronage of some of the West’s most...

Note: This is the post #19 in a weekly series of explanatory posts on the officials and agencies included in the President’s Cabinet. See the series introductionhere. Cabinet position:U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Department: Office of the United States Trade Representative, which is part of the Executive Office of the President Current Representative:Robert Lighthizer Department Mission:“The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is responsible for developing and coordinating U.S. international modity, and direct investment policy, and overseeing negotiations with other...

Note: This is post #35 in a weekly video series on basic microeconomics. Does trade harm workers by reducing the number of jobs in the U.S.? Is it wrong to trade with countries that use child labor? In this video by Marginal Revolution University, Alex Tabarrok discusses some of the mon arguments against international trade. (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...

May 25 is Africa Day, a holiday originally created to celebrate the foundation of the Organization of African Unity (now known as the African Union) on May 25, 1963. In honor of memoration, here are 25 facts you should know about the continent: 1. The continent has 54 independent states and one “non-self-governing territory” (Western Sahara). 2. Before colonial rule prised up to 10,000 different states and autonomous groups with distinct languages and customs. 3. The mon language spoken on...

Economic growth is so vibrant in Europe that it is time to begin redistributing all the excess wealth, according to EU officials in Brussels. The European Commission issued its country-specific resolutions on Monday, and it believes the recovery from the Great Recession has been robust enough for EU members to turn their vision bating “economic inequality.” “This year, addressing inequality is firmly at the heart of our assessment,” said Marianne Thyssen, the EC’s Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and...

After last weekend’s G-7 and NATO summits, leading figures would have the world believe that transatlantic relations are rougher than ever, literally as well as figuratively. The media have highlighted such ephemera as President Trump’s allegedly pushing the prime minister of Montenegro and his white-knuckle handshake with French President Emmanuel Macron. European politicians, however, speak in starker tones about the twin threats of a Trump presidency and an impending Brexit. German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced her despair at a campaign...

Last week, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg endorsed the idea of a universal basic e during mencement address at Harvard University. Samuel Gregg, Acton Institute Director of Research, joined host Drew Mariani on Relevant Radio yesterday to discuss the arguments for and against the idea, and whether it would even work as advertised. You can listen to the interview via the audio player below. ...