Editor’s note: This article first appeared at Forbes.com. Dr. John (Jack) Marks Templeton, Jr. (February 19, 1940-May 16, 2015), lived an extraordinarily productive life. He made many contributions as a medical doctor, a foundation president, and as a family man. … Continue reading
Alejandro Antonio Chafuen
The U.S. Economy In 2015: Challenges And Opportunities
Editor’s note: A longer version of this article first appeared at Forbes.com. With the stock market at an all-time high, a bonanza of cheap gasoline, and unemployment at 5.8 percent, there is increased optimism about the U.S. economy. Yet challenges … Continue reading
The Cuba Deal: Coexisting and Profiting with Tyrants
Editor’s note: This article first appeared at Forbes.com. We all celebrate when an innocent person is released from prison. The freedom of Alan Gross is welcome news. But the release of three convicted Cuban spies and operatives (who were directly … Continue reading
Leonard Liggio (1933-2014): A Scholar for the Free World
Editor’s note: This article first appeared at Forbes.com. The free society lost a great champion on October 14, 2014 when Leonard P. Liggio passed away. I first met Leonard Liggio in 1980 at a Mont Pelerin Society (MPS) meeting held … Continue reading
Unequal distribution of economic freedom: Why so many poor can’t improve their lot
Editor’s note: A longer version of this article first appeared at Forbes.com. While the church and Christian moralists have always spoken about the rich and the poor, and condemned those who put wealth, or anything else, above eternal life, it … Continue reading
Pope Francis: Espousing a Peronist rather than a Marxist Liberation Theology?
Editor’s note: This article first appeared at Forbes.com. When I came back to the Roman Catholic Church, around 1975, Liberation Theology was very popular in my native Argentina. Even the elite Catholic high schools were using the Latin American Bible … Continue reading
Pope Francis and the economists
Editor’s Note: This article first appeared at Forbes.com. The recent economic statements by Pope Francis in his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (EG) read as a call for a “Third Way” economic system ruled by experts and people of good will. … Continue reading
Tear down this wall: Celebrating victories over communism on World Freedom Day
Editor’s note: This article first appeared at Forbes.com. Saturday, Nov. 9, marks the 24th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. It is an important date in the history of human civilization. President Ronald Reagan’s demand, “President Gorbachev, tear down this wall,” … Continue reading
Think tanks measure global economic freedom … the U.S. declines
Editor’s note: This article first appeared at Forbes.com under the title, “Why does the U.S. economy sag? Look no further than the number 17.” The significant efforts in recent years to measure economic freedom did not come from universities. They … Continue reading
Don’t Cry For Me, America: Comparing Argentina And The United States
Editor’s note: This opinion editorial first appeared at Forbes.com. Many observers have pondered if the United States is following the same troubled path as Argentina. In the 1940s, Argentina’s Juan Domingo Perón used government agencies for political gain and created a … Continue reading
Business, Entrepreneurship and a Vatican Think-Tank
Editor’s note: A version of this article first appeared at Forbes.com. “Am I creating wealth, or am I engaging in rent-seeking behavior?” If this question would be asked during a course of business ethics at George Mason University (GMU), few … Continue reading
Social Justice and Pope Francis: Choosing Freedom Over Serfdom
Editor’s note: A version of this article first appeared at Forbes.com. Having spent most of his life in Buenos Aires, Pope Francis has given proof that he can rise above his environment. As his compatriot Bishop Alberto Bochatey remarked, “he is … Continue reading
From Aid to Enterprise: Intelligent Poverty Cures
Editor’s note: A version of this article first appeared at Forbes.com. We will always have the poor among us (Matthew 26:11), but over a billion living on less than $1 a day? It is natural for well-meaning individuals to work … Continue reading
Think Tanks: Masters of the Universe?
Editor’s note: A version of this article first appeared at Forbes.com. How do think tanks contribute to produce outcomes conducive to better public policy? Working for over three decades in this field, I developed a simple model based on complex inputs. Outcomes are … Continue reading
Thinking About Think Tanks: Which Are the Best?
Editor’s note: A version of this article first appeared at Forbes.com. The history of the London exchange dates back to 1698. John Castaing, a pioneer of a Starbucks of sorts, started listing stock and commodity prices in his Jonathan’s Coffee-house. In … Continue reading
Human Freedom Matters
Editor’s note: A version of this article first appeared at Forbes.com. “If it matters, measure it” is the motto of the Fraser Institute, the leading Canadian think tank, where I have been a trustee since 1991. More than a motto, … Continue reading
It Can Be Worse Than the Cliff
Editor’s note: This piece was written exclusively for Investor’s Business Daily by a member of the board of advisors for The Center for Vision & Values, a trustee of Grove City College, and president of the Atlas Economic Research Foundation: … Continue reading
Freedom Stagnation
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in the Washington Times on March 21, 2007. In its recently released Freedom in the World 2007 survey, Freedom House coins a new term for these troubled times: “freedom stagnation.” On every continent, … Continue reading
VISION & VALUES CONCISE: Protecting Your Castle from the Courts
You love your house, you love your neighborhood, and you are pleased that local officials want to help toward its development. Yet, after the Supreme Court recently declined to rehear the Kelo vs New London, CT decision, economic development in … Continue reading