Note: This is the fifthpost in a weekly video series on basic microeconomics. In a previous post we looked at how to understand the demand curve. In this video, we take a closer look by examining how to read the demand curve, how demand curves shift, and consumer surplus. And in the one posted below, we look at some important factors that shift the demand curve, such as changes in population, changes in e, prices of substitutes, and changes in...

These Russian Orthodox cosmonauts get it. Click photo for source. … Or does religion need Mars? So argues mentator James Poulos at Foreign Affairs: What’s clear is that Earth no longer invites us to contemplate, much less renew, our deepest spiritual needs. It has filled up so much with people, discoveries, information, and sheer stuff that it’s maddening to find what F. Scott Fitzgerald called a fresh green breast of a new world — the experience of truly open horizons...

In 1820, America’s per capita e averaged $1,980, in today’s dollars. But by 2000, it had increased to $43,000. That economic growth has benefited the rich, of course. But it has also transformed the lives of the poor—and prevented many more from ing or staying poor. Because of economic growth we not only have less poverty and hunger, but less disease and and increase in life expectancy measured in decades. Yet despite these benefits we are often fortable with economic...

Over at the Gospel Coalition last week I reviewed Larry Siedentop’s Inventing the Individual: The Origins of Western Liberalism. As I conclude, “The story he tells is true, but at some points only half-true. The half-truth is still valuable, though, if for no other reason than that it runs so counter to much contemporary self-understanding. Siedentop’s interpretation helpfully casts doubt on the dominant narrative of secularism’s emergence from the oppressive claims of God and religion.” One way of understanding the...

Last week, before the most recent news about Donald Trump and the current US presidential campaign burst onto the scene, Think Christian ran a short reflection of mine on the question of taxation. As I argue, “There is no duty to pay anything other than what we owe in taxes. But whatever we do owe we must pay in good conscience and out of a spirit of justice.” If you spend any time on the internet reading about political liberty,...

In aspecial report and symposiumfor the Washington Times, the Institute for Faith, Work, and Economics has organized an array of diverse perspectives on economic freedom, human flourishing, and the church. Authors include familiar Acton voices and partners such as Michael Novak, John Stonestreet, Christopher Brooks, Jay Richards and Ismael Hernandez, as well as leading figures such as Senator Tim Scott, Arthur Brooks, and Dr. Albert Mohler.The report also includes Acton’s very own Rev. Robert Sirico and Trey Dimsdale, each sharing...

In the newly translated Pro Rege: Living Under Christ the King, Volume 1, Abraham Kuyper reminds us that Christ is not only prophet and priest, but also king, challenging us to reflect on what it means to live under that kingship in a fallen world. Written with the aim of “removing the separation between our life inside the church and our life outside the church,” Kuyper reminds us that “Christ’s being Savior does not exclude his being Lord,” and that...

We all (probably) want to reduce poverty, but how do we actually go about doing that? Pope Francis has been extremely vocal about this problem, but many have taken issue with his suggested solutions.When describing modern capitalism, he’s used phrases like “globalización de la indiferencia” and “cultura del descarte” or a globalization of indifference and a throwaway culture. Beyond soundbites and one-liners, many are trying to get at the exact meaning of the Pope’s statements on economics and poverty. During...

As fall takes hold, it’s time once again for the Acton Lecture Series to take center stage here at the Acton Institute. Last Thursday, John Wilsey, assistant professor of history and Christian apologetics at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, kicked off our fall 2016 series with a lecture on how to read Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America.Wilsey explores ways that Tocqueville’s background shaped him as an author,and the unique insights into American society that Tocqueville shared in his classic work....

The term “free market” doesn’t really capture the essence of the economic system that produces prosperity, says Michael Novak. The secret that “liberated more than a half billion of their citizens from poverty” was not mere freedom but private ownership and personal initiative. The new economy in which we live is often called “the free market economy.” But markets are universal. Markets were central during the long agrarian centuries, through biblical times, in all times. For this reason, the term...