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“Beyond Distributism”
by Thomas E. Woods Jr.
October 8, 2008

Thomas E Woods Jr., author of a new Acton monograph on distributism, looks at this movement made popular by early twentieth-century British Catholics Hilaire Belloc and G. K. Chesterton. Distributists sought to manage economic competition, which they viewed as destructive and destabilizing, by grouping occupations into self-regulating trade associations and granting the central state a supervisory and coordinating role over business and labor. But their arguments turn out to be based on logical and economic fallacies, as well as on a serious misreading of European history. "Theory and experience alike testify that the market alone can deliver an economy that is just, humane, and prosperous," Woods concludes.

“No Morality, No Markets”
by Samuel Gregg D.Phil.
October 1, 2008

Samuel Gregg looks at the moral failures that led to the financial crisis and asks why more free-marketers aren't also asking questions about the human factor. "One explanation for this silence could be that some market-advocates have embraced, consciously or otherwise, the soft relativism so prevalent in Western societies but which renders coherent moral analysis impossible," he writes. "It may also be that many free-marketers have long been incapable of articulating more-than-utilitarian arguments for markets in particular and liberty in general."

Press Releases »

“Citizens for Community Values Wins Acton Institute's $10,000 Samaritan Award”
2008-08-22 14:22:00

“Lord Acton gets LOL-ized”
2008-08-06 14:02:00

“Acton Institute: Is Benedict XVI the 'Green Pope'”
2008-07-17 14:24:00

“Acton Institute announces finalists for the Samaritan Award”
2008-06-26 09:04:00

“S.E.V.E.N. Fund Awards Acton $100,000 for New Documentary”
2008-03-17 08:18:00

Wall Street’s Moral Crisis

Financial executive David Milroy, a board member of the Acton Institute, looks at the financial market meltdown and the ethical problems behind it. "The collapse in the real estate market triggered this crisis, but it was the behavior of market participants that laid the groundwork," he writes. Samuel Gregg examines the moral failures that led to the financial crisis and asks why more free-marketers aren't also asking questions about the human factor. "One explanation for this silence could be that some market-advocates have embraced, consciously or otherwise, the soft relativism so prevalent in Western societies but which renders coherent moral analysis impossible," he writes.