Alejandro Chafuen, board member of the Acton Institute and a contributor to Forbes.com, has recently written an op/ed asking, “Will think tanks become the universities of the 21st century?” He says that “think tanks and the academy in all likelihood, were united at birth.” and that “Massive Online Open Courses, or MOOCs, are affecting universities as few other developments in the history of education. [He] would not be surprised if taking advantage of this technology some of the major think tanks, especially those with outstanding scholars on their staff, will soon develop into small boutique universities.” Chafuen also lists several U.S. think tanks that are working on university type programs, including Acton University:

Read more on Will Think Tanks Replace Universities?…

Alejandro Chafuen, president and chief executive officer of Atlas Economic Research Foundation and board member of the Acton Institute, recently wrote a piece for Forbes.com about crony capitalism.

Chafuen used to spend his summers in Argentina, so he begins his article with a story about a friend from Argentina. Enrique Piana, known to his friends as “Quique,” was heir to “Argentina’s oldest and most respected trophy and medals companies.”

Read more on Think Tanks Taking a Stand Against Crony Capitalism…

Alejandro Chafuen, President of the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, is hoping that newly-elected Pope Francis will be able to sort out the misunderstandings of what “social justice” means in the Church today. In today’s Forbes, Chafuen suggests that “social justice” has too often meant (especially in places like the pope’s home country of Argentina) taking from the rich and giving to the poor.

Chafuen observes that the Jesuit order, to which Pope Francis belongs, has a long intellectual history when it comes to describing what social justice should be. Read more on Pope Francis: A Different Type of Social Justice?…

The Acton Institute has again been named a leading think tank by the University of Pennsylvania’s Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program. Writing about this new, 2012 ranking, Alejandro Chafuen, explained what constitutes a good think tank on the Forbes website:

A “market-oriented” think tank is grounded on the reality that respect for private property within a context of rule of law with limited government has been the path for  the wealth of nations. Think tanks that are not market-oriented study how to redistribute wealth, how to increase taxation, or  the optimum rate of monetary debasement. Governments have typically relied on their own internal think tanks for that research, and complemented it by research from state-subsidized universities. Market-oriented think tanks focus on finding private solutions to public problems.

Chafuen is president and chief executive officer of Atlas Economic Research Foundation and board member of the Acton Institute. You can read his full article, “Thinking About Think Tanks: Which Ones Are the Best?” at Forbes.com.

The full news release from the Acton Institute follows:

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (Jan. 24, 2013)—The University of Pennsylvania’s Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program ranked the Acton Institute among the top social policy and top U.S. think tanks with the release of its 2012 Global Go-To Think Tanks Report. In addition, Acton was cited for having one of the best advocacy campaigns.

Read more on Acton Institute Ranked Among Top Global Think Tanks…

Alex Chafuen

Congratulations to Acton board member and Senior Fellow Alejandro A. Chafuen who received the Global Leadership Award at Wellington College in the UK on April 2. The award was co-sponsored by The World Congress of Families and The Bow Group.

Read more on Alejandro Chafuen Receives Global Leadership Award…