Romantic Nationalism, Trade, & Moral Contingency

By |2022-10-10T19:42:49-05:00September 20th, 2022|Categories: Adam Smith, Conservatism, Donald Trump, Economics, Free Markets, Free Trade, Nationalism, Pat Buchanan, Political Economy, Wilhelm Roepke|

It is the perennial task of the conservative to disentangle the truth from the weeds of confusion which keep growing up around it. Samuel Francis and Patrick Buchanan have greatly contributed to the present resurgence of conservative elements rising up in America. Whatever political victories may come of their work should certainly be celebrated. “Go [...]

Why Adam Smith’s Critique of Mercantilism Matters Today

By |2021-03-08T16:18:20-06:00July 1st, 2020|Categories: Adam Smith, American Republic, Capitalism, Economic History, Economics, Free Markets, Free Trade, Political Economy|

Adam Smith, the father of the discipline we now refer to as economics, was a moral and political philosopher of the Scottish Enlightenment and contemporary and acquaintance of Edmund Burke. Long heralded as a proponent of self-regulating markets, limited government, and free-market “capitalism,” Smith is often invoked by proponents of corporate capitalism as an archetype [...]

The Christian Moral Economy

By |2020-06-26T11:15:46-05:00June 20th, 2020|Categories: Books, Christianity, Economics, Free Trade|

The contributors to “Wealth, Poverty, and Human Destiny” underscore the truth that liberal intellectuals who foster the illusions that God is dead, that man is self-sufficient, are but tools in the hands of the actual dominant force: global corporations that wield economic power, power that the liberal intellectuals unwittingly serve by providing corporate advertisers in [...]

The Divisions & Trade Wars Leading Up to the Monroe Doctrine

By |2020-05-21T14:25:21-05:00May 21st, 2020|Categories: American Republic, Bradley J. Birzer, Economics, England, Free Trade, History, Senior Contributors|

Even though President James Monroe could not fix the economy or dismiss the Missouri question, he could certainly distract the nation from its problems. In his second inaugural address, he gleefully announced a new target for American anger: The British were not allowing free trade between the United States and the English-occupied West Indies. Whatever [...]

The Forgotten American System

By |2020-05-18T18:24:30-05:00May 18th, 2020|Categories: American Republic, Economic History, Economics, Free Trade, History, Politics, Republicanism|

Many people are unfamiliar with the “American System,” the policy of protection as the bulwark of industrial independence, and the foundation of American development and prosperity. A return to the American System would be a major step toward increasing prosperity and restoring the traditional social order in the United States. When Donald Trump spoke at [...]

Freedom vs. Free Trade

By |2020-02-10T15:41:27-06:00February 10th, 2020|Categories: Adam Smith, American Republic, Civilization, Economics, Free Trade, Joseph Pearce, Political Economy, Senior Contributors|

Can “free trade,” as understood by Adam Smith, bring peace among nations? Or does it just allow the strongest nations to become imperial powers? In answering these questions, we must keep in mind that Smith was an economist and not a prophet. In all normal civilisations the trader existed and must exist. But in all [...]

A Balanced Position on Tariffs and Protectionism

By |2020-01-05T21:38:41-06:00January 5th, 2020|Categories: American Republic, Economics, Free Trade, Morality, Political Economy, Virtue|

The trade war has ignited debate on the merits of tariffs and the need to protect the nation’s manufacturing base. Battle lines are drawn between an exaggerated localism that stresses self-sufficiency and a bloated globalism where products transit the Earth unhindered and markets alone rule. […]

Discussing “Capitalism”

By |2019-06-17T15:19:38-05:00December 16th, 2018|Categories: Capitalism, Economics, Free Markets, Free Trade, Government, Joseph Pearce, Political Economy, Senior Contributors|

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 topic, albeit briefly. […]

Free Trade, Protectionism, & the Limits of Economic Analysis

By |2019-10-24T13:35:27-05:00March 6th, 2017|Categories: Economics, Free Trade, Politics|

Economics deals with statements of “is,” not of “ought.” It can tell you the consequences of particular public policies, but it cannot itself demonstrate the rightness or wrongness of such policies… Some debates on economic matters seem destined to recur in the public square. The minimum wage is one. Rent control is another. With several [...]

Should We Keep Muslims Out of America?

By |2015-12-11T16:59:13-06:00December 11th, 2015|Categories: American Republic, Constitution, Democracy, Free Trade, Immigration, Pat Buchanan|

Calling for a moratorium on Muslim immigration “until our country’s representatives can figure out what the hell is going on,” Donald Trump this week ignited a firestorm of historic proportions. As all the old hate words — xenophobe, racist, bigot — have lost their electric charge from overuse, and Mr. Trump was being called a fascist [...]

Why American Capitalism is Successful

By |2015-09-08T11:18:24-05:00September 8th, 2015|Categories: Capitalism, Free Trade|

  “There are significant differences between the American and European version of capitalism. The American traditionally emphasizes the need for limited government, light regulations, low taxes and maximum labour-market flexibility. Its success has been shown above all in the ability to create new jobs, in which it is consistently more successful than Europe.”  — Margaret [...]

The Economics of Prudence: Roepke, Ricardo, and Free Trade

By |2019-07-16T21:16:36-05:00August 13th, 2010|Categories: Economics, Free Trade, Political Economy, Ralph Ancil, Wilhelm Roepke|

Prolonged, widespread joblessness, collapsing real estate markets, and lower economic growth are a few of the many headline issues about the economy. Recommendations range from more stimulus to denying unemployment benefits but there is little in these discussions that convinces us policymakers know what they are talking about and there is much that is misleading, [...]

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