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1. “Tax Increases are Highly Contractionary”

   July 8, 2010 by Stephen J. Haessler

   Economist Christina Romer and economist husband David Romer have a new way of measuring the effects of tax changes on the economy. One of their findings is that tax increases reduce GDP (national income) and that tax decreases stimulate the national economy. (more…)

   Tags: Fiscal Policy | Comments (0)

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2. European Crises

   June 27, 2010 by Stephen J. Haessler

   What are principles from Catholic social doctrine and economics that guide thinking on Europe’s current problems? (more…)

   Comments (0)

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3. Acton University

   June 22, 2010 by Stephen J. Haessler

   One of the most powerful education experiences of the summer can be found at Acton University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. (more…)

   Tags: Acton | Comments (0)

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4. Welcome Respectful Guests

   June 7, 2010 by Stephen J. Haessler

   Recently,  Arizona Senate Bill 1070 has generated a great deal of controversy on how best to deal with immigration issues in the United States. Perhaps it is useful to state two principles from Catholic social teaching on immigration matters. (more…)

   Tags: Immigration | Comments (0)

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5. Economists on Health Financing Reform

   March 19, 2010 by Stephen J. Haessler

   According to today’s Wall Street Journal Real Time Economics blog, economists are of two minds on the health financing reform bill now before Congress. (more…)

   Tags: Health Care | Comments (0)

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6. Too High

   March 12, 2010 by Stephen J. Haessler

   My excellent students in AP Macroeconomics considered unemployment yesterday. They are excellent because they are intelligent and articulate, and because they do their work for this class despite their busy schedules. And, we’ve never even met face to face. There are three students at a Jesuit high school in Cincinnati, Ohio and three students at a Jesuit high school in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  This is a Jesuit Virtual Learning Academy class. We met online to cover Chp. 15 of Mankiw’s fine macroeconomic text which dealt with unemployment. (more…)

   Tags: Cyclical Unemployment | Comments (0)

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7. Thanks to Brophy Students

   February 26, 2010 by Stephen J. Haessler

   I had the privilege of meeting with three groups of most extraordinary young men this week. They were freshman, sophomores, juniors, and seniors at Brophy Jesuit Prep in Phoenix, Arizona. Brophy conducts a Summit each year in which the entire school explores implications of the Catholic response to a given issue. This year the theme was Globalization and Human Dignity. Brophy invites speakers to come in and exchange ideas with students. I was one of those speakers. (more…)

   Tags: Globalization, Poverty | Comments (0)

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8. Henry T. Edmondson III on Why Read Flannery O’Connor

   January 11, 2010 by Henry T. Edmondson III

   Several new translations of Southern Catholic writer Flannery O’Connor’s works have appeared in Spain recently. They are not the first translations of her fiction and prose in Castillian, but these efforts aim to bring her work up to date in the Kingdom of Spain. (more…)

   Tags: Flannery O'Connor | Comments (0)

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9. Avatar Amen

   December 29, 2009 by Stephen J. Haessler

   I saw the movie Avatar last night. Beautiful film visually. It really did feel like I was entering the world of the Na’vi. But it was a stupid movie story-wise. The villains are technology, the greedy mining officials, and their hired mercenaries. (more…)

   Tags: Environment | Comments (0)

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10. Gods of Greenhouse Gas

    December 8, 2009 by Stephen J. Haessler

    In the 1998 Avengers movie, Sean Connery plays an extortionist who says at one point “The weather is no longer in God’s hands… it’s in mine.” Water vapor is the biggest greenhouse gas by volume, bigger even than carbon dioxide, and so must have a tremendous impact on weather.  Yet the Environmental Protection Agency did not identify water vapor as a health hazard. (more…)

    Tags: Greenhouse Gas | Comments (0)

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11. Profit and Love of Neighbor

    December 4, 2009 by Stephen J. Haessler

    A man was stripped and beaten by robbers. A priest passed by the injured man. So did a Levite man. The Good Samaritan described in Luke 10: 30-37 stopped to help the man.  But the Samaritan did more than offer immediate comfort. He took the injured man to an inn and told the inn keeper he would cover expenses incurred while the victim recovered. (more…)

    Tags: Entrepreneurship, Profit | Comments (0)

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12. The Bushido of Climate Consensus-Building

    November 25, 2009 by Stephen J. Haessler

    Bushido is a Japanese term which means “way of the warrior.” Does economic activity cause adverse climate effects that require restrictive regulation on a global scale? This is an economic and political, as well as a scientific question. (more…)

    Tags: Climate Change | Comments (0)

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13. GM-Zombie: The Economics of the Undead

    November 19, 2009 by Stephen J. Haessler

    Since it declared bankruptcy on 1 June 2009, General Motors has been walking around doing its car-selling business with one minor problem. It is economically undead and a kind of corporate zombie. Ahhhhhh! (more…)

    Tags: General Motors | Comments (0)

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14. Pumpkins 1; Crucifixes 0

    November 6, 2009 by Stephen J. Haessler

    The European Court of Human Rights decided in favor of a parent who claimed crucifixes on display in public schools in Italy, that’s Italy mind you, interfered with her right to raise her child according to the values she believes in.   (more…)

    Tags: Religious Freedom | Comments (5)

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15. Seamus Mulholland on Freedom, Part 2

    October 28, 2009 by Seamus Mulholland

    The freedom of the individual is a freedom guaranteed by their individuality. It is not a freedom guaranteed by any political or socio-economic system; (more…)

    Tags: Economics, Freedom | Comments (0)

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Recommended Reading

Click each cover for more info and a short review.

Pope Benedict XVI

Charity in Truth: Caritas in Veritate

This is a test review.




Thomas Sowell

The Housing Boom and Bust

I’m only on page 15 but this is an awesome book. It is the clearest explanation of the proximite cause of the current recession I’ve seen so far. One of the most important things I’ve learned is housing prices in California, the hottest real estate market leading up to the housing bust, was driven largely by political restrictions on land use. In San Mateo County for example, half of the land was designated off limits for housing. This artificial, political land shortage drove up the prices of even modest homes to mansion-like levels. Must continue reading.




Mark R. Levin

Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto

This is a good book. I especially like how Mr. Levin ties opposition to growing statism to our founding principles and documents. I was shocked by the description of Mass v. EPA (2007) that declared carbon dioxide a poison to be regulated. Absurd. Statism has imposed unfunded ponze schemes like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

The weakest chapter was chapter 9 on immigration. I counted 11 paragraphs in this chapter that dealt with the economics of immigration, none of which mentioned the fact of positive net benefits overall of immigration. I posted on this issue on 25 May 2009.

Despite one weak chapter, the book is a must read for anyone interested in an intelligent defense of freedom and prosperity.




Gregory Clark

A Farewell to Alms: A Brief Economic History of the World (Princeton Economic History of the Western

One of the most astounding claims in this fascinating book (though I’m still not convinced the industrial revolution’s take-off is explained by the survival of the richest) is the admission that a key, maybe the key insight in economics is based on faith and reason. Hmmmm…. You see the importance of faith?

The context of the claim is Clark’s description of Robert Solow’s model of growth as based on a simple equation involving four variables: labor, capital, land, and innovation. This last factor plays a decisive role. And yet:

“Note, however, that when we arrive at this final truth as to the nature of modern growth we have lost all ability to empirically test its truth. It is a statement of reason and faith, not an empirical proposition. Physical capital can be measured, as can the share of capital income in all income in the economy. But the generalized spillovers from innovation activities are not in practice measurable.” (p. 204)

I think this insight makes the dismal science much more interesting because now vulgar materialists and simplistic empiricists might actually have to believe in entrepreneurs without knowing exactly how much they contribute! “…we know they’re important; just not how important…”




Russell Roberts

The Invisible Heart: An Economic Romance

This is a wonderful novelized principles textbook. Basic economic concepts are revealed through the dialogues between a high school economics teacher and his English teacher fiancee. When I taught high school economics at Marquette and my wife taught English, I was amazed how closely art resembled life, or was it the other way around?




Barbara Frale

The Templars: The Secret History Revealed

This is a great book. I have a mini-library on the Knights Templar and this is the best of the bunch. Barbara Frahle discovered the Chinon Parchment or trial transcripts of the Templar leadership from the early 1300’s. What I learned from her narrative was that Pope Clement V was not quite the scoundrel as other authors have made him out to be. In fact, he cleared the Templar of heresy, though did find that some of their initiation rites were out of line. In any case, he does not come off like Philip IV who positively salivated at the prospect of expropriating Templar wealth and was willing to use any excuse to enrich himself. May he reflect on all this during his time in Purgatory.

I also learned that the Papacy’s long, long struggle for independence from the monarchical governments of Europe created space within which detailed understandings of human freedom grew. In fact, the divine right of kings may be connected to Philip the (Un)Fair, who made a claim dating back to Clovis that the crowned princes, not the Popes of Rome, had responsibility for protecting the Church on earth. Ominous, most ominous.




Burton W. Folsom

The Myth of the Robber Barons

Short read that rescues the reputation of some American business heros from the muckrakers. Should be read by all teachers and students of American history.




Amity Shlaes

The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression

The quote from William Graham Sumner’s lecture explains the title of this first rate history of the New Deal:

‘As soon as A observes something which seems to him to be wrong, from which X is suffering, A talks it over with B, and A and B then propose to get a law passed to remedy the evil and help X. Their law always proposes to determine … what A, B, and C shall do for X.’ But what about C? There was nothing wrong with A and B helping X. What was wrong was the law, and the indenturing of C to the cause. C was the forgotten man, the man who paid, ‘the man who never is thought of.’ (p. 12)




Thomas Sowell

Applied Economics: Thinking Beyond Stage One

My favorite part is Dr. Sowell’s exchange with his teacher, Arthur Smithies of Harvard. Sowell explained his strong feelings in class for a given policy proposal. Dr. Smithies asked, “And then what will happen?” (p. 4) Smithies kept asking this question after each answer, illustrating a key skill of economic analysis in going beyond first stage thinking to consider costs. benefits, and unintended consequences of well-meaning policies like affordable housing, anti-discrimination, or income equalization policies. This is the principle of considering secondary effects.




David Schmidtz

Person, Polis, Planet: Essays in Applied Philosophy

Here is a wonderful quote from p. 176 quote: “In turn, citizens internalize responsibility when they face the world of tangled joint causation as it is, and do not rely on courts to save them from themselves.” Amen. No thanks, Nanny State. Give me personal responsibilty.




Steven D. Knope

Concierge Medicine: A New System to Get the Best Healthcare

This is an important book by a doctor who wants people to take responsibility for their own health and by doing so become healthier.




Diana Wood

Medieval Economic Thought (Cambridge Medieval Textbooks)

Chapters 7 and 8 contain illuminating dicussion of usury. This from p. 205: “Leo X [1515] canonized the attitude that ‘Usury and trewe interest be thinges as contrary as falshed is to trewth,’ in effect, admitting that the Church had come to terms with economic practice …. Paradoxically it was the Protestants, with their biblically based faith, who kept the usuary debate alive by returning to the traditional scholastic attitudes.”

And this from p. 204: “[Pope Leo X] had undermined most of the foundations of the usury doctrine. By accepting the charging of interest by the montes from the beginning of a loan he had denied that loans were free, and also, by implication, suggested that time could be sold. By suggesting that a profit could be made, provided that it involved labor, cost, or risk, he was sanctioning the main extrinsic titles to interest, and so hinting that barren money could be made fruitful by the application of any of these three.”

And of course, a fascinating few pages on ‘clerical usury’ and papal lending practices and the understandings thereof, beginning on p. 171.




Clayton M. Christensen

Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns

Predicts online delivery and differentiated instruction are waves of the schooling future.




Robert William Fogel

The Escape from Hunger and Premature Death, 1700-2100: Europe, America, and the Third World (Cambrid

The free economy has contributed hugely to the material foundations of the common good. This book presents an empirical assessment of the “technophysio evolution[ary]” basis of this development, and an “optimistic view of the course of changes in health and longevity during the twenty-first century.” (p. 109)