For many, Brussels sprouts are symbolic of not-so-popular childhood cuisine, remembered mostly for their bitter taste and ominous odor. More recently, however, they’ve had a revival of sorts, ing a treasured item in the kitchens of professional restaurateurs and home chefs alike. While the renaissance may at first seem like a passing fad driven by the whims of modern palettes, it began in the 1990s with the innovative efforts of a Dutch scientist. Marked by decades of incremental improvements and...

As church attendance and religious affiliation continue to decline across the West, many have lamented the spiritual and social side effects, including a weakening of civil society and the fragmentation munity life. What is less discussed, however, is the economic impact of such a shift. In a new report, The Hidden Economy: How Faith Helps Fuel Canada’s GDP, researchers Brian and Melissa Grimm explore this very thing, offering an estimate of the socioeconomic value of faith and religion to broader...

The Electoral College met on Monday to cast the decisive votes in the 2020 presidential election. This year’s vote was not without controversy, a reality that has engulfed the constitutionally mandated election system since its founding. To further undermine the institution, this year Colorado voted to join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, an end-run around the Electoral College that includes a total of 15 states and the District of Columbia. Should the quadrennial rite of electors selecting our president...

J.D. Vance goes from washing and reusing plastic forks at home to posh dinners with seven utensils per setting. The new Netflix film adaptation of his memoir catches the details of knives and forks but misses the “meat” of Vance’s story. Though they have the same title and many of the same plot points, the book and film have different messages. While the book is primarily about the choice to change, the film centers around the choice to leave. This...

On Sunday, December 25, 2011, at 10:55 a.m., I received an email from Walter Williams. I couldn’t believe it. The email simply read, “Does this work for you? Good luck.” It was an endorsement of my book on Thomas Sowell. It was one of the best Christmas gifts I have ever received. I was deeply honored to receive an endorsement from “the” Walter Williams, and to be exchanging emails with one of my intellectual heroes was the icing on the...

President-elect Joe Biden is expected to support federal paid leave benefits for employees. Whether such an agenda can go through with a Republican Senate is questionable. That is unless, Democrats get the help from some misguided conservatives, who have been pushing their own version of paid leave under the illusion that the government could somehow get involved in this area of our lives without growing the size and scope of government. Let’s review what’s at stake here, since the arguments...

Social capital refers to a certain set of informal values and skills shared among members of a group that permit cooperation regardless of socioeconomic characteristics. It is the learned ability of individuals to engage socially and work within organizations to mon objectives. In economics, the term “fixed capital” refers to a stock of equipment, and investment and depreciation are flows adding to or decreasing the existing stock. The stock of social capital at any point in time is fixed but...

In what has been a very trying year of pandemic, unrest, and contentious politics we found ourselves again wrapped up in books, for “[b]ooks, both in their reading and their writing represent not just knowledge but a way of knowing, they are how we e wise.” As Christmas approaches, some members of the Acton Institute’s staff are closing out 2020 by mending the best books they have read this year: Jordan Ballor The Old House of Fear by Russell Kirk:...

As states like California continue imposing harsh COVID-19 lockdowns on their citizens, government officials gain even more power to decide which businesses get to survive. Unsurprisingly, politicians have given powerful interests preferential treatment. One of the most blatant cases occurred in Los Angeles, where a restaurant owner’s tearful condemnation of the city’s uneven policies reveals what happens when government starts deciding whose livelihood takes priority. As Angela Marsden describes in her now-viral video, a newly imposed ban on outdoor dining...

In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 22 million Americans lost their jobs, effectively reversing several years of economic growth. This would mark the beginning of a “two-track recovery” that is increasingly divided between those whose livelihoods remained safe and secure and those whose industries or enterprises have been thoroughly upended. As governments moved to shut down key sectors of the economy last spring – promoting a series of strange dichotomies about “essential” vs. “non-essential” work –...