Have you ever listened to a classical symphony and thought the music needed more distortion? Or have you ever read a newspaper and believed it would have been improved if it had more disinformation? Most of us don’t appreciate distortion in our music or disinformation in our news. Yet far too many do favor distortion and disinformation when es to pricing. Prices signal information in markets. A “market” is a summary term for a variety of voluntary exchange for modities...

The newest issue of the Journal of Markets & Morality has been published online and print copies are ing. This issue is a theme issue on “The Role of Religion in a Free Society,” with guest editors Richard Epstein and Mario Rizzo of New York University School of Law, and Michael McConnell of Stanford Law School. Contributions range from legal analyses to theoretical forays to fascinating case studies all centered on the question of the nature, limits, role, and rights...

“The wider culture needs virtue education, because a free society relies on certain bedrock moral principles being inculcated and incarnated,” says Josh Herring in this week’s Acton Commentary. We need business men, doctors, lawyers, plumbers, electricians, and grocers who act with the honesty which allows the free market to thrive. Virtue, character, ethics – these things matter profoundly, and it is one of the tasks of education to transfer the system of values from one generation to the next. And...

This year marks the 40th anniversary of one of the most consequential anti-poverty programs in human history. Now, there is evidence that its spillover effects may lift millions more out of dire need. In 1978, 18 farmers from the Chinese village of Xiaogang secretly signed “the document that changed the world.” Madsen Pirie of the Adam Smith Institute writes: A few years earlier they had seen 67 of their 120 population starve to death in the “Great Leap Forward” Now...

Alfred Tennyson wrote, “In the Spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.” But each summer“in Mediterranean countries, the youth seemto be haunted by the same pressing question: ‘Will i get a proper job?'”writes Mihail Neamtu at Acton’sReligion & Liberty Transatlantic website. Neamtu, a public intellectual from Romania, writes in his penetrating essay: In Greece, unemployment stands at 42.9 percent; in Spain, unemployment is 35 percent; in Italy, it is more than 30 percent. Compared to the...

Some countries are rich and some countries are religious. But the U.S. is the only country that has higher-than-average levels of both prayer and wealth, according to a new study by Pew Research. In 101 other countries surveyed that have a gross domestic product of more than $30,000 per person, fewer than 40 percent of adults say they pray every day.As the survey notes,more than half of American adults (55 percent) say they pray pared with 25 percent in Canada,...

Note: This is post #88 in a weekly video series on basic economics. Borrowing and saving plays an essential role in our economy, and banks often serve as their primary link. But how exactly do banks operate? In this video by Marginal Revolution University, Alex Tabarrok explains how banks serve as financial intermediaries, how they turn savings into loans, and how they make loans as productive as possible. (If you find the pace of the videos too slow, I’d mend...

Series Note: Jobs are one of the most important aspects of a morally functioning economy. They help us serve the needs of our neighbors and lead to human flourishing both for the individual and munities. Conversely, not having a job can adversely affect spiritual and psychological well-being of individuals and families. Because unemployment is a spiritual problem, Christians in America need to understand and be aware of the monthly data on employment. Each month highlight the latest numbers we need...

Should people who receive welfare benefits from the government be required to work? There are at least two ways to consider that question. The first is from the perspective of technical economics. Do work requirements lead to higher rates of employment for welfare beneficiaries? Does a lack of such requirements discourage work? The second is a matter of moral philosophy. Michael R. Strain argues that it’s the latter approach that should be our starting point when considering welfare policy: Whom...

The fight for religious liberty has intensified in America, whether among retail giants,restaurant chains,bakers and florists,nuns, or other imminent obstructionson the path paved byObergefell vs. Hodges. Meanwhile, intense religious persecution continues to grow around the globe. The appointment of Justice Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court gave room for optimism here at home. More recently, given the recent changes in the State Department — namely, the appointment of CIA director Mike Pompeo as secretary of state and the confirmation of...