Religion & Liberty Online Archives

Economics

January 17, 2014

How to Prove That Everyone Knows Raising Minimum Wages Increases Unemployment

Yesterday I mentioned that translating economic principles into intuitive concepts is one of the most urgent and necessary tasks to prevent such evils as harm to the poor. Today, William Poole provides an excellent example of what is needed with his “common-sense thought experiment” on minimum wage increases: Suppose Congress were to enact a minimum wage $50 higher than the current one of $7.25 per hour. Continue Reading...
January 17, 2014

Is Income Inequality Really About Marriage?

President Obama has called income inequality the “defining challenge of our time,” but is it strictly about paychecks? Ari Fleischer thinks there is definitely more to it; he believes it’s about the breakdown of the family and American rejection of marriage. Continue Reading...
January 15, 2014

What the Oregon Medicaid Study Tells Us About Big Government

If a large Oregon study is any indication, says Jonathan Witt in this week’s Acton Commentary, the Affordable Care Act may drive up frivolous emergency room visits and do little to improve people’s physical or economic health: In essence, the healthcare industry becomes the enabler in a lucrative game in which patients put off needed lifestyle reform, opting instead for prescription pills, surgeries and conversations about “genetic predispositions.” Continue Reading...
January 15, 2014

The Seen and Unseen Effects of the Minimum Wage

Given the recent and wide-ranging discussion here on the PowerBlog surrounding the the minimum wage (Hunter Baker, Joe Carter, Jordan Ballor, Elise Hilton, yours truly), this short little video offers a nice overview of the seen and unseen effects of such an instrument. Continue Reading...
January 14, 2014

Samuel Gregg: Crony Capitalist Predators

Acton’s Director of Research, Sam Gregg, discusses crony capitalism in today’s issue of The American Spectator. Gregg says 2014 looks to be the year of “inequality” economically-speaking, and that we must not forget the threat of crony capitalism. Continue Reading...