Latest Posts

April 06, 2017

Intellectuals vs Freedom

[Review of From Benito Mussolini to Hugo Chavez: Intellectuals and a Century of Political Hero Worship by Paul Hollander, Cambridge University Press, 2016, 325 pp.] My former boss and current president of the Foundation for Economic Education, Lawrence Reed, used to begin seminars by asking members of the audience when they “caught the liberty bug.” Continue Reading...
April 05, 2017

Understanding the President’s Cabinet: Commerce Secretary

Note: This is the eleventh in a weekly series of explanatory posts on the officials and agencies included in the President’s Cabinet. See the series introduction here. Cabinet position: Secretary of Commerce Department: Department of Commerce Current Secretary: Wilbur Ross Succession: The Commerce Secretary is tenth in the presidential line of succession. Continue Reading...
April 05, 2017

John Stonestreet doesn’t want to talk about sex

On the latest edition of Radio Free Acton, John Stonestreet, the President of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, joins Marc Vander Maas to talk about the current cultural and moral malaise of the West and affirms the unique role of Christianity in the development and sustaining of western civilization. Continue Reading...
April 04, 2017

The ‘Great Repeal Bill’ and the long shadow of EU law

Millions had assumed that Brexit meant that, in the words of Prime Minister Theresa May, “our laws will be made in Westminster, Edinburgh, Cardiff, and Belfast.” But the government has announced that it will continue to be bound by thousands of EU regulations, passed in Brussels, for the foreseeable future. Continue Reading...
April 04, 2017

The minimum wage as a price floor

Note: This is post #27 in a weekly video series on basic microeconomics. Minimum wages are a type of price floor, and as with all prices floors, when prices are kept artificially high they can lead to several consequences that hurt the consumer. Continue Reading...
April 03, 2017

Why protectionism harms human dignity

From an economic perspective, protectionism is one of the most foolish policies a country can adopt. It not only hurts the nation’s economy, but makes individual households poorer. Why then do so many people who are aware of this reality still support protectionist policies? Continue Reading...