Poverty

May 07, 2020

In a pandemic, the poor need global markets more than ever

The coronavirus global pandemic has scrambled everything from economic policy to geopolitics. This disruption has created space for many to reconsider the world’s pre-coronavirus arrangements. Trade and globalization will undoubtedly be on the menu for renegotiation. Continue Reading...

April 17, 2020

Weekend viewing: Watch ‘America Lost’ for free

For a few moments, filmmaker Christopher Rufo’s documentary America Lost seemed in danger of becoming an anachronism. But in the age of coronavirus shutdown orders, his portrait of life in the forgotten, jobless corners of America could not be more timely. Continue Reading...

April 17, 2020

Marx vs. the universal basic income

While a universal basic income has been advocated by everyone from Bernie Sanders to Charles Murray and Pope Francis, the name most associated with wealth redistribution is Marx. However, in a little-known writing Marx specifically opposed the UBI, calling it inefficient and counterproductive. Continue Reading...

March 24, 2020

Review: ‘America Lost’ and the crisis of faith and work

However unique their history or circumstances, communities experiencing high unemployment are pockmarked by the same sights: shuttered factories, rows of abandoned homes bulldozed or set ablaze by arsonists, and a debilitating hopelessness. Continue Reading...

February 28, 2020

Why banning dollar stores won’t save ‘food deserts’

Reducing food insecurity and improving overall nutrition continue to be key priorities in the fight to alleviate poverty, particularly given the continued rise of diseases like diabetes and their increased prevalence among low-income and disadvantaged populations. Continue Reading...

February 24, 2020

Savings groups for global transformation

“That is never going to amount to anything. Don’t waste your time.” This was my initial reaction when our Tanzanian director told me about the first savings groups she had seen in action, almost 15 years ago. Continue Reading...

February 05, 2020

Generosity through trade: The power of giving and receiving

In cultivating a Christian ethic of economic generosity, we tend to focus heavily on traditional acts of charity—donating our dollars, volunteering our time, and so on. Likewise, in heeding Jesus’ call in Matthew 25 to serve the “least of these,” we often think through the lens of one-way material transfers. Continue Reading...

January 28, 2020

How an Argentine cooperative is empowering workers and entrepreneurs

Despite the once promising election of President Mauricio Macri, Argentina’s first non-Perónist leader in 13 years, the country has largely returned to its embrace of leftist economic policies, including recently imposed capital controls and interventionist price fixing. Continue Reading...

January 27, 2020

The flawed statistic that lets AOC inflate the number of poor Americans

The United States has experienced years of record-breaking stock markets and unmatched levels of employment. Yet Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez presents her country as a dystopia in equal parts Dickensian and Hobbesian, where the wealthy few ground the poor masses into the dust. Continue Reading...

January 23, 2020

Global wealth inequality has been falling: Report

“Economic inequality is out of control,” according to Oxfam, which releases a dire-sounding report about inequality every year on the eve of the World Economic Forum in Davos. The 2020 edition faults the supposed “dominance of neoliberal economics, which values deregulation and reduction in public spending,” and the alleged existence of “monopolies,” for “accelerating economic inequality.” Continue Reading...

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