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Pillar

Business & Economics

The fifth pillar, business and economics, is built upon concern for the common good and the ways in which the economic order contributes to—or detracts from—human flourishing. Public Discourse examines the ways in which the market is shaped by—and gives shape to—our understanding of the human person, the role of the family, the rule of law, and education and culture.

The Right and the Future of Capitalism: Part 1

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Public Discourse

The Case for Private Property: A (New) Natural Law Analysis

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At a time when debates about economic inequality occupy significant attention in the public square, Adam MacLeod offers a fresh way forward for thinking about private property and its contribution to the common good by rooting property rights in a robust account of freedom and human flourishing.
Public Discourse

Commercial Surrogacy: Stop It or Just Regulate It?

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When motherhood becomes a mere avenue to a paycheck, both the woman and the child she carries are wronged. Surrogacy undermines the dignity of both women and children.
Public Discourse

Public Morality and the Lure of Profit

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The liberal campaign to redefine marriage is not over. Attempts to secure constitutional rights to polygamy and polyamory are on the way. Conservatives must pursue a new strategy to thwart private corporations from undermining public morality if we hope to prevent further changes to the institution of marriage and protect other vital elements of public morality.
Public Discourse

A Call for a Unified Party

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The recent Obergefell decision should serve as a wake-up call to conservatives. In particular, conservatives should rethink the Republican Party platform and work to refocus the GOP around the broad theme of “nature.”
Public Discourse

Conservatism, Free Markets, and America’s Post-Obama Economy

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Instead of settling for damage control, now is the time for conservatives to outline a far-reaching pro-market economic reform agenda. Not only should conservatives explain how America’s economy can be changed in ways that promote lasting growth and wider prosperity, but they should also speak in moral terms, presenting a convincing normative alternative to progressivism’s social democratic vision.
Public Discourse

Doing Injustice to the Just Price

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An article in the Journal of Clinical Oncology on the just price of cancer drugs in the United States contains an odd reference to a nonexistent book by Aristotle. Unraveling the origins of this error reveals an almost farcical series of misinterpretations.
Public Discourse

Class of ‘59: Our Kids by Robert Putnam

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The nature of poverty has changed substantially over the past fifty years. In Our Kids, esteemed social scientist Robert Putnam compares the conditions and opportunities of the rich and the poor in Port Clinton, Ohio, his hometown, both in 1959 and today. But the government programs that Putnam proposes won’t solve a problem that starts with the family.
Public Discourse

Popular Culture and the Male Body: A New Challenge

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All those concerned about sexual exploitation must pull together and fight a two-front war against female and male dehumanization.
Public Discourse

Public Debt, Political Paralysis, and the West

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The West’s struggle with high public debt highlights the inertia and indecision of both governments and citizens in the face of difficult economic choices.
Public Discourse

The Value of Children: Economics, Faith, and the Problem of Underpopulation

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The overpopulation crisis predicted by Malthusians has failed to materialize. Instead, developed nations face serious underpopulation. To solve this problem, we must rediscover the importance of children.
Public Discourse

Catholicism, Capitalism, and Caritas: The Continuing Legacy of Michael Novak

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In a time of intense debate about global capitalism and the power of economic elites, Michael Novak’s work is essential reading for those who seek to work for free and virtuous societies. Novak’s life is also a lesson in charity.
Public Discourse

The Legacy of John Nash and His Challenge to Homo Economicus: Why Now Is a Good Time to Study Economics

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Economics takes for granted the problematic view that everyone acts in their self-interest, and that this is the best way of understanding the world. The latest research within the discipline is, however, transforming these fundamental assumptions.
Public Discourse

The Fall of Fertility: How Redefining Marriage Will Further Declining Birthrates in the United States

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Redefining marriage undermines the ties between marriage and procreation. This will contribute to already declining fertility rates in the United States as marriage rates drop and marriage becomes even more adult-centric in meaning and function. The consequences to the economy and society will be harmful and multifaceted.
Public Discourse

Bureaucratic Bloat in Higher Education: Getting Rid of the Middle Men

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When college administrators fancy themselves businessmen selling “information delivery systems,” students suffer.
Public Discourse

Poverty, the Rule of Law, and Human Flourishing

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If we want to be coherent when addressing poverty, our concerns can’t be rooted in emotivist or relativistic accounts of who human beings are. They must be founded on recognition of each person’s freedom, rationality, and dignity.
Public Discourse

Connecting Religious and Economic Liberty

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New data suggest that countries that value and protect religious liberty offer fertile soil for economic liberty to flourish.
Public Discourse

Life to the Full: The Dangers of Material Wealth and Spiritual Poverty

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In helping developing countries to increase their economic prosperity, we must remember that human welfare cannot be reduced to material realities.
Public Discourse

Jewish Praise of Truett Cathy: Chick-fil-A Founder and Sabbath Observer

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In a society in which the profit motive tends to make all other interests subordinate to the almighty dollar, Chick-fil-A’s founder declared that the store would not be open on the Sabbath.
Public Discourse

Obamacare: Text and Intention

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Confronted with its legislative weaknesses, defenders of Obamacare are appealing to the law’s intent instead of its text. This is a dangerous approach that the founders clearly rejected.
Public Discourse

The Blessings of Liberty and the Index of Culture and Opportunity

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Opportunity is not merely the absence of artificially imposed impediments. It is also the capacity to pursue happiness, individually and in community. Adapted from the 2014 Index of Culture and Opportunity.
Public Discourse

Religious Liberty and Economic Freedom: Intellectual and Practical Paradoxes

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The role of economic liberty in contributing to human flourishing and the common good remains deeply underappreciated, even by those who are dedicated to religious liberty.
Public Discourse

Just Inflation

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A low but predictable inflation rate is sound, just policy.
Public Discourse

Just Money

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If a society regards governmental manipulation of money as the antidote to economic challenges, a type of poison will work its way through the body politic, undermining justice and the common good.
Public Discourse

Covetous Envy: The Forgotten Deadly Sin

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Modern rhetoric of income inequality is driven by covetous envy that betrays America’s tradition of applauding those who succeed. Caritas, humility, gratitude, and goodwill toward others are a healthy society’s answer to the ancient curses of envy and pride.
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