Ralph Ancil

Decadence, Free Trade, & Mercantilism

That boredom, sexual perversion, consumerism, and the general malaise of the West are to a great extent the fruits of past economic growth is long record­ed... "Conquest or superiority among other powers is not, or ought not ever to be, the object of republican...

The False God of Economic Growth

Let us be clear on one point: the usual defenders of the free market—the Friedmans, Hayeks and Mises—are not primarily concerned with private property or liberty. They are firstly concerned with economic growth which mainly means continuous economic,...

Roepke and von Mises: The Difference

Some writers link the names of Ludwig von Mises and Wilhelm Roepke as if there were no important differences between them. Roepke is co-opted into the camp of more or less libertarian thinkers whose position is further enhanced by...

A Humane Economy versus Economism

Introduction Contributing to the multi-faceted crisis Americans now face is the loss of those values and principles that are essential to a healthy economy. We could mention the incestuous relationships between business and politics,...

“The Struggle against Scarcity:” Arthur Lovejoy and Wilhelm Roepke

During World War II, philosopher Arthur Lovejoy tried to explain the reasons for the international crisis and the totalitarianism in Germany. According to his view, the roots of the trouble could be found in the German Romantic...

Globalization Versus the Humane Economy

In educating for democracy, we must also educate for economy. This follows from the fundamen­tal truth that government and economy have an indivisi­ble relationship. We are not free to mix any form of government with any economic...

Wilhelm Roepke: German Economist as Southern Neighbor

Wilhelm Roepke How can a German economist be called a Southerner? Obviously not geographically but in the important sense that Southern Agrarians came to understand, as a possession of the mind and...

Wilhelm Roepke and the Liberal Ideal

Wilhelm Roepke Much of Wilhelm Roepke's work can be understood as an exposition of the essence of Western, Occidental thought, a contribution to civilization that can be summed up in the word "liberal" properly...

Economy of the Tao: Wendell Berry & Economic Health

Wendell Berry Berry’s economic program, what he calls the “little economy,” is a smaller wheel in the larger motion of the “Great Economy.” To understand the former, it is vital to grasp the latter....

Roepke: The Well-Ordered House

What constitutes a well-ordered house from the national perspective? How do we know what order it is in? According to the conventional wisdom we need the statistics of aggregate income, spending and output. We need, in other...

Morality and the Free Market System: The Humane Balance

Nikolai Lenin said that when the time came to hang the capitalists, they would trip over each other to sell the communists the necessary rope. One is remind­ed also of the similar case of a Canadian...

Roepke and the Restoration of Property: The Proletarianized Market

In a discussion with another famous conserva­tive, Richard Weaver objected to the view that the solution of our problems lies in following in the foot­steps of "our ancestors." This was not enough, he argued, for we must...

The Bible as Agrarian Textbook

Whether Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox or orthodox Protestant, the Bible is the basic book of the Christian faith. One may well ask if it has anything to say about how we should live, not...