Religion & Liberty Online Archives

Economics

October 31, 2019

Benjamin Franklin’s advice on the Chicago schools strike

Their last remaining dispute in the Chicago schools strike could be resolved if both sides understood a basic economic concept taught by one of the nation’s Founding Fathers. Although the Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union announced a tentative agreement Wednesday evening, the Second City’s 300,000-plus students still began their eleventh day outside the classroom Thursday, because the CTU added a new demand Wednesday night. Continue Reading...
October 29, 2019

Liberation theology never really went away says Samuel Gregg

October 27 marked the close of the Synod of Bishops on the Amazon, a summit organized to foster conversation on pastoral ministry and ecological concerns in the Amazon region. Although the synod report has not been released yet, many predict that it will reflect just how deep the roots of Marxist liberation theology — or ecology — have grown in Latin American Catholicism. Continue Reading...
October 16, 2019

A Nobel for a technocratic approach to poverty

In this week’s Acton Commentary, Victor Claar looks at the work of the three economists awarded the 2019 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences. Claar, associate professor of economics at Florida Gulf Coast University and an Acton affiliate scholar, says “economists are quite divided on this year’s prize” given to Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer. Continue Reading...
September 30, 2019

6 ways to combat consumerism

The Gospel reading on Sunday was the story of Lazarus and the rich man. I often refer to this parable in discussions about poverty, because Augustine points out that it was not wealth that sent the rich man to hell, but his indifference. Continue Reading...
September 26, 2019

Creativity vs. innovation for the Christian entrepreneur (and beyond)

As human persons made in the image of a creative God, we are uniquely fashioned to produce and create, contribute and collaborate, give and receive, trade and exchange. Such a reality has a wide range of implications for our economic activity and institutions, whether in our daily work and mundane interactions or the pioneering of new products, services, and enterprises. Continue Reading...