Acton Institute Powerblog Archives

Post Tagged 'Economic inequality'

What Causes Wealth (and Dishonesty and Greed)?

A recent national Pew Research Center survey has found conflicting opinions regarding many Americans’ view of the rich: As Republicans gather for their national convention in Tampa to nominate a presidential candidate known, in part, as a wealthy businessman, a new nationwide Pew Research Center survey finds that many Americans believe the rich are different than other people. Continue Reading...

What Does the Bible Say About Income Inequality?

Income inequality has been around as long as humans have had incomes, yet over the past year it has been presented as one of our economy’s greatest injustices. With so much shoddy zero-sum reasoning being presented, it’s refreshing to find an economist who can apply both sound economic and Biblical thinking to the topic. Continue Reading...

The Income Inequality We Ignore

Over on First Things, Michael W. Hannon, David J. Pederson, and Peter A. Blair write about the injustices of inequality. In many parts of their short article they had me nodding in agreement. Continue Reading...

Envy and Economics

“Charity rejoices in our neighbor’s good,” said Thomas Aquinas, “while envy grieves over it.” Unfortunately, grieving over our neighbor’s good has become a dominant part of recent economic discussions (“income inequality,” the “Buffett rule,” the “99%”). Continue Reading...

Samuel Gregg: Inequality Anyone?

Over at National Review Online, Acton Research Director Samuel Gregg takes a look at a recent Charles Blow op-ed in the New York Times in which the writer hyperventilates about statements made by Rick Santorum on the subject of income inequality. Continue Reading...

The Main Battle

In the “Wealth Inequality Mirage” on RealClearMarkets, Diana Furchtgott-Roth looks at the campaign waged by “levelers” who exaggerate and distort statistics about income inequality to advance their political ends. The gap, she says, is the “main battle” in the Nov. Continue Reading...

Chrysostom on the Poor

From On Living Simply, Sermon XLIII. (HT: American Orthodox Institute Observer, et al.): Should we look to kings and princes to put right the inequalities between rich and poor? Should we require soldiers to come and seize the rich person’s gold and distribute it among his destitute neighbors? Continue Reading...