Religion & Liberty Online Archives

Business and Society

Creativity and Capital

How can developing countries best compete in a global economy? Humberto Belli, president of Ave Maria College of the Americas in Nicaragua, points to the power of education and human resources. Continue Reading...

Ripped Off by Business and Government

According to a superficial view of politics held by some, “conservative” tends to imply “pro-business.” This identification conceals a number of crucial distinctions. In my view, one essential component of conservatism is advocacy of limited government. Continue Reading...

Ranking Small Business & Entrepreneurship

Forbes passes along a ranking of the fifty states (plus the District) on the friendliness of fiscal policy toward small business (HT: The Entrepreneurial Mind), provided by the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (PDF). Continue Reading...

Inflation: A Moral Problem

Despite signs of a cooling economy, the Fed is holding the line on interest rates. And reason is fairly simple: Worries about inflation. While there are many good reasons for fiscal restraint in the face of the inflation threat, there are also larger moral issues at work, says Sam Gregg. Continue Reading...

Micro-Finance: A Way Out of Poverty

In awarding the Peace Prize to Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank, the Nobel Committee has focused the world’s attention on the power of “bottom up” economic development. Jennifer Roback Morse reminds us that “the micro-credit movement has helped many of the poor become less poor, and to lift themselves, their families, and their neighbors out of abject poverty.” Continue Reading...

‘You Buy, We Fly!’

Pie in the Sky (Image source) The market can be a pretty amazing thing. Matt Tomter, a former Alaskan bush pilot, saw a market niche and jumped at the opportunity. His Airport Pizza delivers a pie anywhere in Alaska for just $30…that includes free delivery. Continue Reading...

Stossel and Symmetric Information

Jim Aune, blogger-in-chief at The Blogora, complained yesterday about his health care treatment. He says, “I have been in constant pain for 36 hours. I actually used a cane to go to the office yesterday for some meetings. Continue Reading...

Europe’s Economic Cage

Despite a recent surge in economic growth in the European Union, the lack of political will to reform unsustainable welfare systems and curb regulatory excesses does not bode well for the future. Continue Reading...

Baby Market Follow-up

I wrote disparagingly of a developing “baby market” in a recent Acton commentary. The phenomenon is described in much fuller detail by Cheryl Miller in The New Atlantis in the course of her review of a recent book by Debora L. Continue Reading...

California: Up in Smoke

Rev. Robert Sirico comments on California’s Proposition 86, a measure which would nearly triple state tobacco taxes to fund health care initiatives. “It is true, of course, that governments always act on moral premises of some sort,” he writes. Continue Reading...