What can the incarnation teach us about Christian cultural witness and economic action? When God became a man, He showed us the power of embodied truth. But that divine act wasn’t just meant to rescue us from a fallen world; it was meant to model what transformation actually looks like in the here and now. As Rev. Robert Sirico recently noted in his reflections on Christmas, the incarnation reminds us “how seriously God takes the material world which he made,...

For the first time in its history, the EU has invoked Article 7, a provision of its constitution intended to censure and punish a member nation for violating European values. Just before Christmas, the European Commission took the first step in the process against Poland over a series of laws taken by the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) that it says threatens the independence of the judiciary. Ultimately, the EU could set out changes it expects Poland to make to...

Every year’s end means that people of faith will be deluged with two things: wishes for a Happy New Year and appeals for charities of every conceivable variety. Americans gave $390 billion to charity in 2016, nearly one-third of it in the month of December. For charities and their beneficiaries, the holiday spirit – and Americans’ desire to lower their year-end tax bill – are a godsend. But ancient pagans had a different view of private, Christian almsgiving, which still...

One hundred years ago today—on January 8, 1918—President Woodrow Wilson gave an address before Congress in which he outlined his goals for ending World War I. American forces had entered the war almost nine months earlier and Wilson wanted to let the world know exactly what he believed the Allies were fighting for. In the introduction to what became known as the Fourteen Points speech, Wilson said, What we demand in this war, therefore, is nothing peculiar to ourselves. It...

Humans have long daydreamed about a day or a place where work is no more, whether found in a retirement home on a golf course or in a utopian society filled only with leisure and idleness. But is a world without work all that desirable, even amid material abundance? In an essay in Touchstone Magazine, Hunter Baker explores the question at length, noting the growing disconnect between “consumer man” and “working man” in the modern economy. Indeed, as Baker notes,...

Abraham Kuyper, who served as prime minister of the Netherlands from 1901 to 1905, was also a journalist and theologian. Kuyper wrote expansively on public theology in an effort to engage culture through the lens of a Christian worldview, covering topics such mon grace, the kingship of Christ, and the roles of the church and family. In collaboration with the Abraham Kuyper Translation Society, the Acton Institute and Lexham Presshave teamed together to publish the Abraham Kuyper Collected Works in...

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard boasts that the protests that have blanketed the nation for the last week have died down – and, with them, at least 22 Iranians demanding better economic conditions and civil liberties. Economic change was at the heart of public discontent, something Iran may be seeking to export to the West by spreading socialist ideology. The Islamic Republic of Iran and Nicolás Maduro’s Venezuela both support – and may be funding – the spread of socialism in the...

Series Note: Jobs are one of the most important aspects of a morally functioning economy. They help us serve the needs of our neighbors and lead to human flourishing both for the individual and munities. Conversely, not having a job can adversely affect spiritual and psychological well-being of individuals and families. Because unemployment is a spiritual problem, Christians in America need to understand and be aware of the monthly data on employment. Each month highlight the latest numbers we need...

As is ing mon New Year’s theme, the minimum wage increased on Monday in more than a dozen states across the U.S. According to the Economic Policy Institute, 18 states increased the lowest legal wage allowed: • Alaska: $9.84, $.04 increase • Arizona: $10.50, $.50 increase • California: $11.00, $.50 increase • Colorado: $10.20, $.90 increase • Florida: $8.25, $.15 increase • Hawaii: $10.10, $.85 increase • Maine: $10.00, $1.00 increase • Michigan: $9.25, $.35 increase • Minnesota: $9.65, $.15...

Note: This is post #62 in a weekly video series on basic microeconomics. Club goods are goods that are nonrival and excludable, says economist Alex Tabarrok. For instance, HBO is a club good, as you need to pay a monthly fee to access HBO (excludable) but more viewers does not add to costs (nonrival). As Tabarrok explains in this video by Marginal Revolution University, entrepreneurs are always looking for ways to turn public goods into club goods. (If you find...