Economics

An Introduction to Conservatism for “Well-Meaning Liberals”

Instead of considering contemporary political issues, or politicians, Roger Scruton attempts to rebuild conservatism by looking seriously at its past... Conservatism: An Invitation to the Great Tradition, by Roger Scruton (176 pages, All Points Books, 2018)

Discussing “Capitalism”

Speaking personally, I’d rather discuss many things during this joyful season of Advent than “capitalism.” And yet Matthew Summers’ recent essay “In Defense of Capitalism” for The Imaginative Conservative has prompted me to comment on the...

Edmund Burke on Revolutionary Armies and Taxes

Though a classic in its own right, and arguably the first book on conservatism in the modern world, Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France of 1790 is inconsistent as a coherent work. And, yet, even in its unevenness,...

The Best Possible World and Concrete Living

I found Matthew Summers' critique of my essay "Capitalism and the Gospel of Love" illuminating in the sense that two serious thinkers can look at the same phenomenon from completely different viewpoints. He seeks to show that...

A Theology of Gift: The Divine Benefactor and Universal Kinship

Today’s offering in our Timeless Essay series affords our readers the opportunity to join Stratford Caldecott as he considers the divine nature of giving as explained by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. —W. Winston Elliott III, Publisher My...

In Defense of Capitalism

The term capitalism has long been used by critics as a catch-all to denote a system replete with greed, indulgence, excess, and deprivation. It is easy to misinterpret self-interest as selfishness and write off capitalism and economics. But the truth of the matter is much more complicated...

All Work & No Play: How Schools Are Crushing Our Kids

We’re filling up so much of kids’ time with extracurriculars and studying that they don’t have time to play—and without play, it’s harder to develop the self-starter instincts and resilience of an entrepreneur... This election...

How the Myth of the ‘Robber Barons’ Began––and Why It Persists

Capitalism Worked, But We Were Told It Didn't We study history to learn from it. If we can discover what worked and what didn’t work, we can use this knowledge wisely to create...

Economists Must Answer for More than Just Economics

Romanticizing and moralistic contempt of the economy, including contempt of the impulses which move the market economy and the institutions which support it, must be as far from our minds as economism, materialism, and utilitarianism... Editor's Note: The following excerpt comes from Wilhelm Röpke's excellent book, 

Do Americans Really Value Hard Work?

The tiresome cant about the work ethic notwithstanding, Americans do not celebrate, or even recognize, the dignity of labor. Although they profess to disdain both the idle rich and the idle poor, they do not at the same time esteem those who must work for a living,...

Why We Need “Too Many” Firefighters

Firefighters’ role in the perpetuation of the common good in American communities is significant, even in surprising and unexpected ways. At a time when America is suffering a decline in community service and volunteerism, we should be grateful for firefighters serving our communities in other ways...

The Church and the Marketplace

I fear for the time when all vestiges of the Church are scrubbed from economy. Then there will be no more familial caregivers. The family will be reduced to a mere collection of selfish individuals. The moral law will be erased by the unbridled passions of frenetic...

Capitalism and the Gospel of Love

In The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith was absolutely right: The widespread division of labor would cause the interior life to die; an unsurprising result, for under capitalism, the human person became a commodity, a resource, a thing used to further profits…

The Pursuit of the Good Life

We went wrong when we replaced the pursuit of the Good Life with the pursuit of busy-ness, which, as “business,” is idolized as an end in itself; indeed, as the end in itself. We were not made to be busy; we were made to be good...