In an extremely disturbing video, a two year old girl is run over by a truck in a China. Shortly after being run over, three strangers walk past the girl and do nothing. Eventually, a street cleaner picks her up and transports her to the hospital where she later dies. Utilitarian philosopher, Peter Singer, uses this real world example in a TEDTalk that has now received over 1 million views to make a point about our global charity and aid...

Why would a lay Dominican woman from the so-called “dark ages” have any lasting relevance in today’s world? For one reason, Catherine of Siena, was no ordinary woman. And she eventually became no ordinary saint. She was the saint of “burning love” for her passionate sense of service, reform and justice. It was St. Catherine who famously said: “Be who God meant you to be, and you will set the world on fire.” Her infectious magnanimity and heroic life of...

Note: This is post #102 in a weekly video series on basic economics. Cyclical unemployment is a type of unemployment that is connected to the regular ups and downs—the cyclical trends in growth and recession—that occur within the business cycle. One factor that affects cyclical unemployment is “sticky wages.” As Alex Tabarrok of Marginal Revolution University explains, wages often adjust more slowly after an economic contraction, which in turn reduces an employer’s incentive to hire. Other factors affecting wage adjustment...

Now that the giving season is upon us we should ask, says Andrew Vanderput in this week’s Acton Commentary, “How can one’s charity actually undermine the causes or people they mean to champion?” When charity is defined as “willing the good of the other,” it ought to necessitate that more reflection and thought be given towards the practical effects of one’s charitable acts. To will the good of the other goes far beyond a sugar high feeling after a donate...

Not one of Benjamin Franklin’s better-known works, but one worth reading nonetheless, is a brief 1751 essay called Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, &c. Franklin covers a lot of ground in just a few pages, and brings up quite a few ideas menting on, but I wanted to highlight one paragraph and its relevance for the “birth dearth” we see in the West today. Franklin explains, “Home Luxury in the Great, increases the Nation’s Manufacturers employ’d...

The following article is written by Ignacio Ibáñez of Red Floridablanca and translated by Joshua Gregor. On behalf of Red Floridablanca, I would like to thank the Acton Institute for translating and publishing this series of articles, which I had the honor to coordinate, memorate the 170th anniversary of the death of Father Jaime Balmes (Vic, Spain, 1810-1848). Monument to Fr. Jaime Balmes at the cathedral of Vic The articles by Alejandro Chafuen, Josep M. Castellà,and León Rivas published under...

Would you like the federal government to implement a policy that would reduce GDP, increase unemployment, benefit almost every country in the world except for the U.S., and cost you $915 a year? If so, you’re in luck! Those are just some of the impacts of current and proposed US trade actions under Section 232 and 301 of US trade law, aka, the Trump tariffs. A new missioned by Koch Industries and conducted by consulting firm ImpactECON, looked at the...

In the days after Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and all the rest, the Christmas shopping season is well underway—and with it, a peculiar blend of hyper-generosity and hyper-consumerism. Surely there is much to celebrate, and not just in the social and spiritual glories of human exchange and gift-giving. Such activity is also creative and productive in an economic sense, serving to bolster businesses, boost employment, and accelerate economic growth.But amid the opportunities for creative service and extravagant peting temptations of...

On this episode of Radio Free Acton, producer Caroline Roberts speaks with Michael Ward, a British Scholar and professor of apologetics at Houston Baptist University, about the work of the 20th century writer C.S. Lewis, in time for the anniversary of Lewis’ birthday on November 29. After that, host Bruce Walker speaks with Bradley Birzer, professor of history at Hillsdale College, about the legacy of Stan Lee and the new, third season of Marvel’s Netflix show, Daredevil. Check out these...

As satiated Americans gathered around their Thanksgiving tables to count their blessings, incensed protesters gathered in roadways and intersections across France to count the cost of Emmanuel Macron’s punishing gas taxes. A leaderless rebellion propelled hundreds of thousands of people into the streets – on foot, of course – and made France perhaps the least likely site in the world to see citizens demand, “Death to taxes.” That was one of the phrases emblazoned on placards held aloft by the...