[Note: This is the second post in a series highlighting some of the financial aspects and broad economic lessons of Frank Capra’s holiday classic, It’s a Wonderful Life. You can find part one here.] George’s Life Savings in a Life Insurance Policy George attempts to secure a loan from Potter based on his life insurance policy. He says it has a $15,000 face value and a $500 cash value. Why is his life insurance policy worth cash? George has atype...

It is always worth remembering how Christianity reformed Western culture – especially during the Christmas season, when we meditate on how Christ refashioned human nature to be a fitting abode of the divine nature. From teaching – and in some cases, inventing written languages – to preserving ancient manuscripts, to founding the university system, it would be impossible to imagine Western civilization without Christianity’s contributions. With this in mind, textbooks once referred to the West merely as “Christendom.” But a...

At the top of the Catholic hierarchy, Capitalism has been abandoned. This criticism of free markets, and even profit in general, have caused others within the Catholic Church to e concerned. As the debate grows, it’s helpful to clear up the main arguments of those who oppose and those who support Capitalism.In an article written for CatholicVote, Senior editor for the Acton Institute, Fr. Ben Johnson, does just that. Addressing the positions of First Things editor R. R. Reno and...

Note: This is post #61 in a weekly video series on basic microeconomics. Public goods provide an argument for taxation and government provision. But how do we know which public goods should be provided? In this video by Marginal Revolution University, economist Alex Tabarrok discusses the free-rider problem and the forced-rider problem in regards to public goods. Previous in series: Public goods and asteroid defense ...

“Is Christmas too materialistic? Well, it’s not as materialistic as God ing flesh, redeeming our sinful flesh, and sending us back into the material world to live out our faith in love and service to our physical neighbors.” –Gene Veith We are routinely told that Charles Dickens’ beloved story, A Christmas Carol, was instrumental in giving us Christmas as we know it — marking the holiday not just as a moment of reflection on Christ’s birth, but as a secular...

Christmas is the most widely observed cultural holiday in the world. Here are five factsyou should know about the memoration of the birth of Jesus: 1. No one knows what day or month Jesus was born (though some scholars speculate that it was in September). The earliest evidence for the observance of December 25 as the birthday of Christappears in the Philocalian posed in Rome in 336. 2. Despite the impression given by many nativity plays and Christmas carols, the...

[Note: This is the finalpost in a series highlighting some of the financial aspects and broad economic lessons of Frank Capra’s holiday classic, It’s a Wonderful Life. You can find part one hereand part two here.] Economist Don Boudreaux outlined ten foundational lessons that should be learned in every well-taught principles of economics course. Examples of nearly all of the ten lessons can be found in Capra’s Christmas classic, but for the sake of brevity I’ll merely highlight two of...

“Eat your broccoli,” our mothers would say. “Think of the starving children in Africa!” It’s a moral claim we’re all familiar with. If some of our food goes to waste, someone, somewhere, will face imminent harm and the environment will go to the dogs. Indeed, it’s the central message of the popular new documentary, Wasted!, which claims, for example, that one-third of all food produced is never eaten, that 40% of that same food goes to waste, and that 90%...

On this day 241 years ago – December 26, 1776 – George Washington led his forces to a much-needed victory in the Battle of Trenton. Crossing the icy waters of the Delaware River on Christmas night to achieve maximum surprise, his decisive defeat of the Hessians encamped in New Jersey bolstered the colonies’ faltering faith in his military leadership. That led to the foundation of our constitutional republic, enlivened by virtue flowing from religious faith. To this day in much...

“Though relatively unknown to the broader public in the West, King Michael’s life was nothing short of extraordinary,” says Mihail Neamtu in this week’s Acton Commentary. In 1927, his father left the throne to pursue a Romantic adventure with a larger than life mistress, Elena Lupescu (1895-1977). The royal families in Europe sanctioned this betrayal of the marriage vows, which the astute and yet amoral Prince Carol II had spoken before the youthful Princess Helen of Greece and Denmark (1896-1982)....