Religion & Liberty Online Archives

Economics

September 11, 2013

What You Need to Know About Wilhelm Röpke

Wilhelm Röpke is one of the most important 20th century economists that almost no Americans know anything about. To really learn about the man whose influence was considered largely responsible for enabling Germany’s post-World War II economic “miracle,” you should read Samuel Gregg’s Wilhelm Ropke’s Political Economy. Continue Reading...
September 09, 2013

Samuel Gregg: Politics, Ideas, and the West

In a new article at Intercollegiate Review, Acton Research Director Samuel Gregg looks at the current state of “idea conservatives” and their place in the broader context of American conservative thought encompassing an amazing diversity of ideological subspecies. Continue Reading...
September 06, 2013

What Is A ‘Christian’ Company?

Is a company “Christian” because it sells Christian products, like Bibles and greeting cards with Scripture verses on them? Is a company Christian because its owners says it is? What makes a company “Christian” and do we need them? Continue Reading...
September 06, 2013

Creating Large Retail Deserts In Washington, D.C.

As politicians continue their surrogate decision-making in the lives of the underclass, Washington, D.C. city politics remain a laboratory for repeated public policy failures. The Washington, D.C. city council recently approved a measure that would create a living wage for workers in the city who are employed by large retailers. Continue Reading...
September 05, 2013

10 Perils of Prosperity

Sustained prosperity is new and sustained prosperity for masses of people is completely unprecedented. What is sustained prosperity? It’s three or more generations of people who do not need to focus on survival or live in economic depression, but who can live comfortably even if they live paycheck to paycheck. Continue Reading...
September 05, 2013

Calvin Coolidge and the Power of Connectedness

In the latest episode of Uncommon Knowledge, Peter Robinson interviews Amity Shlaes, author of the new biography, Coolidge. Read Ray Nothstine’s review here. In the book, Shlaes makes an explicit connection between Coolidge’s rough-and-humble upbringing in Plymouth Notch, VA, and his bootstraps optimism about commerce and markets. Continue Reading...
September 05, 2013

To Restore the Dignity of Work, Look to Pastors Instead of Politicians

For Labor Day weekend, Peggy Noonan wrote a column pointing to the critical connection between the spiritual value of work and the moral strength of our culture. But as Greg Forster notes, her “search for a beacon of hope that can point us back toward the dignity of work, she neglects the church in favor of less promising possibilities.” Continue Reading...
September 03, 2013

Does the Protestant Work Ethic Exist?

Over 100 years ago sociologist Max Weber coined the term “Protestant work ethic” to describe how in some Puritan-based Protestant traditions hard work and frugality are a constant display of a person’s salvation in the Christian faith, in contrast to the focus upon religious attendance, confession, and ceremonial sacrament in the Catholic tradition. Continue Reading...