The cautionary tale of ‘government cheese’

When President Jimmy Carter first took office in 1977, America’s dairy farmers were struggling. Throughout the economic disruptions of the 1970s, the country had seen a shortage of dairy products, followed by a 30% spike in prices (due to government-inspired inflation), followed by a drastic decline in prices (due to government-inspired intervention). Continue Reading...

Alejandro Chafuen in Forbes: State-owned enterprises and trade

Alejandro Chafuen, Acton’s Managing Director, International, published a piece in Forbes yesterday on the place of state-owned enterprises in international trade. The question also extends to industries that, even if not owned by the state, are significantly influenced by government interests, regulation, and so on. Continue Reading...

Lord Acton on true liberalism

Early last month there was a great debate over the question “What is Liberalism?” on the Free Thoughts Podcast. The debate was between Helena Rosenblatt, professor of history at City University of New York and Daniel Klein, professor of economics at George Mason University. Continue Reading...

Lord Acton and the two types of nationalism

Kai Weiss, Research Fellow at the Austrian Economics Center, has a new essay on Law and Liberty exploring Lord Acton’s thoughts on nationalism: A little-known 1862 work called Nationality by Lord Acton can perhaps shed new light, too, on the topic. Continue Reading...