Economic Freedom

June 25, 2019

2019 G20 Summit: Tariffs and forbearance

As world leaders from a select group of the largest national economies meet in Osaka at the end of this week, they face increasing volatility and uncertainty around some of the basic principles and institutions that bring together their various peoples in the global marketplace. Continue Reading...

June 17, 2019

Beyond Bolsonaro: A freedom surge in Brazil

Those who argue that the recent victory of President Jair Bolsonaro in the 2018 Brazilian presidential elections represent an authoritarian shift are highly mistaken. On the contrary, liberalism has never been as strong and vibrant in Brazil as it is in the present moment. Continue Reading...

June 17, 2019

New York’s rent regulations: people over profit?

Last week, the New York State Legislature arranged a series of regulations designed to protect tenants and control rents. This action was quickly repeated by the California Assembly, which passed a rent-cap bill, both following in the footsteps of Oregon’s statewide rent control law enacted this past February. Continue Reading...

June 12, 2019

Alejandro Chafuen in Forbes: Reciprocity and free trade

Alejandro Chafuen, Acton’s Managing Director, International, writes today in Forbes about free trade and its relation to the notions of reciprocity and protectionism — popular topics in our current political climate. Continue Reading...

June 12, 2019

How the Tea Party became a statist-populist movement

“People are tired of the nanny state and the growth of government, tired of having our money basically robbed,” said a demonstrator at a tea party rally in 2009. “[We] want to return to constitutional form of government, limited government that allows people to be free and independent.” Continue Reading...

May 28, 2019

Can intellectuals actually win elections?

In my previous Letter from Rome, I asked whether populists have the capacity to govern, given the failings of the Italian coalition made up of left-wing and right-wing populists and their apparent disdain for ideology. Continue Reading...

May 20, 2019

Is Facebook a monopoly the government should break up?

Chris Hughes, a co-founder of Facebook and co-chairman of the Economic Security Project, has recently written an impassioned plea in the New York Times calling for the government to break up Facebook. Continue Reading...

May 20, 2019

Alejandro Chafuen in Forbes: Building Brazil’s wealth through deregulation

This article appeared originally in Forbes. Read the entire article here. Last week, while visiting the political and business capitals of Brazil, I was able to study the plan for deregulating the Brazilian economy and speak with some of the plan’s architects. Continue Reading...

May 10, 2019

Global poverty reduction slows – but there’s a fix

For the past many years, the news about extreme poverty around the globe has been extremely encouraging. The number of people living on $1.90 a day (2011 PPP), which the World Bank defines as extreme poverty, has been falling for decades. Continue Reading...

May 09, 2019

Rev. Robert Sirico on ‘The Late-Scholastic and Austrian Link to Modern Catholic Economic Thought’

As Acton’s librarian I can’t help but be immersed in the history of the Institute. I regularly stumble upon thought-provoking material from well before I began my work here in the late 2000’s which is itself a continuing education. Continue Reading...

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