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October 25, 2017

Radio Free Acton: Rev. Ben Johnson on how sin taxes support terrorism; Econ Quiz on Amazon; Upstream on sci-fi writer Jerry Pournelle

On this episode of Radio Free Acton, Caroline Roberts talks with Fr. Ben Johnson, senior editor at the Acton Institute, on the pitfalls of sin taxes. Then, on the Econ Quiz segment, Caroline speaks to Anne Rathbone Bradley, vice president of economic initiatives at the Institute for Faith, Work, and Economics and visiting professor at Georgetown University, about the impact of Amazon and whether or not it is a monopoly. Continue Reading...
October 25, 2017

Jerry Pournelle, Russell Kirk Conservative: RIP

Jerry Pournelle passed away in early September and is memorialized in this week’s “Upstream” segment of the Radio Free Acton podcast. An accomplished man in many fields in both the public and private sectors, he perhaps is best known as the author and co-author of a shelf-full of science-fiction novels. Continue Reading...
October 24, 2017

Government regulations in a fallen world

  The number of federal regulations in the United States broke an all-time record last year. A total of 97,110 pages were added to the Federal Register in 2016. The Competitive Enterprise Institute calculates the compliance costs and economic impacts of federal regulations at $1.89 trillion. Continue Reading...
October 24, 2017

Unemployment and the making of career criminals

For the past several years I’ve had a near obsession with trying to get Christians to recognize the devastating effects of unemployment. It’s not that believers don’t recognize unemployment as harmful, it’s that we often underestimate just how destructive not having a job is to the individual and their community. Continue Reading...
October 24, 2017

The marginal product of labor

Note: This is post #54 in a weekly video series on basic microeconomics. How are wages determined? Why do most Americans earn so much by global standards? What exactly is meant by ‘human capital’? Continue Reading...