Acton Institute Powerblog

Promoting free societies characterized by liberty & religious principles

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February 05, 2018

Religion & Liberty: Growing pains in the romance lands

For our first issue of 2018, the R&L editorial board wanted to put together a very special “green” issue. We traveled across the country and talked to many experts to bring you essays, interviews, reviews and more, focusing on the environment, good stewardship and the importance of property rights. Continue Reading...
December 15, 2017

Is the ‘Bitcoin bubble’ immoral?

What is behind the cryptocurrency Bitcoin’s phenomenal rise in values, from $800 last year to $17,000 today? Is this a bubble or a durable value, and what are the ethical implications behind using a currency that may aid such causes as organized crime and North Korea’s nuclear program? 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...
August 21, 2017

Why Christians must get poverty and inequality right

Over the last two decades, global poverty has plummeted and the world’s poorest people have steadily climbed out of the shadow of death. Yet many Christians cannot distinguish between dire poverty and income inequality, falsely believe both are worsening, and oppose the very policies that have lifted the world’s poor out of malnutrition. Continue Reading...
July 31, 2017

Free trade is good stewardship of creation

Christians seeking to be good stewards of God’s creation sometimes find themselves torn. The environmentalist movement tells them that the most destructive force ever unleashed upon Mother Nature is rapacious “neoliberal” capitalism, which they also know has has been the greatest producer of wealth in history. Continue Reading...
"Old but nice butterfly on the leaf" by Tambako the Jaguar is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0 CC BYND
May 25, 2017

The EU’s plan to fight ‘inequality’ is undermined by its own data – and King Solomon

Economic growth is so vibrant in Europe that it is time to begin redistributing all the excess wealth, according to EU officials in Brussels. The European Commission issued its country-specific resolutions on Monday, and it believes the recovery from the Great Recession has been robust enough for EU members to turn their vision toward combating “economic inequality.” Continue Reading...
May 09, 2017

To fight poverty, Oxfam must measure what matters

If people of faith want to reduce global poverty, they must begin by accurately measuring the problem. But a well-publicized report on international poverty distorts the problem and promotes solutions that would leave the world’s poorest people worse off, according to two free market experts. Continue Reading...
March 06, 2017

Samuel Gregg on the unexpected lessons of ‘Populorum Progressio’

In a recent article for Crisis Magazine, Samuel Gregg, Acton’s director of research, reflects on Pope Paul VI’s social encyclical Populorum Progressio. He criticizes it for faulty “time-bound” economic ideas and international approach to charity efforts, but praises the work it for its openness to variety in how to address social and economic problems as well as its affirmation of the differing roles of clergy and the laity. Continue Reading...