Philosopher and theologian, Michael Novak recently delivered a speech at the Catholic University of America on the vocation of business and Forbes published the transcript. Novak argues that “capitalism is lifting the world out of poverty.” As many Asian and African economies shift from socialist to capitalist, they are seeing enormous economic growth, and small businesses are the force behind these economic gains: Even in developed nations, most jobs are found in small business. In Italy, over 80 percent of...

It’s the oldest profession, right? It’s worldwide, and attempts to criminalize it don’t seem to work. Does legalizing prostitution solve any problems? That’s the question Nisha Lilia Diu of The Telegraph set out to answer. In a lengthy piece that focuses on Germany, Diu visited brothels, talked to their owners, visited with prostitutes – all in order to see if the legalization of prostitution “works.” Germany legalized prostitution in 2002. The law was meant to to do a number of...

The massive federal student loan program is creating a gargantuan higher education bubble and unsustainable levels of student loan debt, but at least all that borrowed money is going primarily to educate people, right? Apparently not. Yahoo Finance reports on yet another way that the nanny state is creating moral hazard and impoverishing the culture: A number of factors are behind the growth in student debt. The soft jobs recovery and the emphasis on education have driven people to attain...

Justin Bieber is no different than many 20-year-olds in the US and Canada. He is naturally searching for identity, meaning, and purpose — and searching for munity with whom to pursue those things. This is a normal process of transitioning from the teenage years into adulthood. Bieber, like many 20-year-olds, has shown a lack of judgement at times that has landed him not only in the news but also in jail. Many of us remember our own antics in those...

In 2005, religious shareholder activists of various stripes jumped aboard the bandwagon filing resolutions against Chevron for an environmental disaster it allegedly caused. Chevron asserted its innocence, but the activist shareholders put the squeeze on: Chevron’s Ecuador environmental disaster, considered by experts to be the worst oil-related ecological problem on the planet and currently the subject of a high-stakes law suit estimated to cost pany upwards of $6 billion, will be high on the agenda of pany’s 2006 annual shareholder...

Last year I wrote a series of blog posts about what Christians should know about Bitcoin. In response, one astute reader pointed out an odd juxtaposition: my conclusion seemed to imply that Christians should avoid Bitcoin “at all cost” and yet the Acton Institute accepts donations in Bitcoin. “I really want to know the rationale behind this,” he said. Well, the rationale is easy enough to explain: Not everyone at Acton agrees with me. Like other nerds who have an...

In an excerpt from the splendidPovertyCure series, Michael Fairbanks offers a helpful bit on why our attitudes petition matter for economic development: I can predict the future of a developing nation better than any IMF team of economists by asking one question: “Do you believe petition?” When I go to Venezuela and I say, “do you believe petition?,” they say petition means the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.” They say petition is the unnecessary duplication of effort...

Steven W. Mosher, president of the Population Research Institute, has written a book that is brutally truthful and brutally hard to read. It should be: it’s about the most brutal of government policies, China’s one-child policy. Written in the first person, Mosher writes as “Chi An,” a young woman he first met in 1980. While he has changed certain facts and names in order to protect the woman he gives voice to, the story of her life in China is...

Acton Director of Research, Samuel Gregg, recently discussed Catholicism and healthcare over at Crisis Magazine. In his article, he asks “Must Catholics favor socialized medicine?” Gregg begins by addressing whether or not “access to healthcare may be described as a ‘right.'” He asserts that Catholics should agree it is a right based on a 2012 address Pope Benedict XVI made to healthcare workers, in which he unambiguously spoke of the “right to healthcare.” Gregg continues: But the real debate for...

Surveys have found thatnearly eight in ten Americans regard the Bible as either the literal word of God or as inspired by God. At thesame time, other surveys have revealed—and recent books have analyzed—surprising gaps inAmericans’ biblical literacy. These discrepancies reveal American plexrelationship to their scripture, a subject that is widely acknowledged but rarely investigated.To understand that paradox, theCenter for the Study of Religion and American Culture conducted thefirst large-scale investigation of the Bible in American life. “The Bible in...