What a difference a year makes. At the time of the last newsletter, there was no way I would have imagined how much the world and the economy would change in the coming months. It’s been difficult. Many people have suffered illness, death, the loss of loved ones and jobs, and had their home and…
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI articulated the demands placed upon us by our obligation to the vulnerable in our midst: “Jesus taught his disciples to pray by asking the Heavenly Father not for “my” but for “our” daily bread. Thus, he desired every person to feel co‐responsible for his brothers so that no one would want…
If you’ve heard of economist Julian Simon before, it is likely because he came up with the idea of vouchers as a solution to airline overbooking (Simon 1968), or won a famous bet against biologist Paul Ehrlich (Sabin 2013). However, Simon should be of special interest to Catholic economists since the lion’s share of his…
At the time of writing, close to 7 million cases of coronavirus infections have been identified globally. The actual number of people infected is likely a multiple of those estimates given lack of widespread testing in many countries and the fact that many individuals with the virus are asymptomatic. The official number of deaths from…
CREDO economists, along with other scholars, discussed and debated the best policies in light of the COVID-19 pandemic in two separate panels. On May 5, 2020, amidst lockdowns in many areas Jesus Fernandez-Villaverde (University of Pennsylvania) and Casey Mulligan (University of Chicago) discussed the economic and social costs and consequences of the lockdown. On June…
Between February and May, the U.S. labor market lost nearly 20 million jobs. This unprecedented decline in economic activity was fueled by the many stay-at-home directives imposed in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. As of May, the unemployment rate stood at 13.3%, a sharp increase from its 3.5% rate in February and, despite a decline…
Catholic schools serve 62 million K12 students, with Catholic universities serving millions more. Yet relatively littleapplied research by economists has been conducted on Catholic schools, especially in the developing world whereenrollment is rising quickly. I am exploring the possibility of creating a advisory team of economists who could sup-port the International Office of Catholic Education…
Since 2017, Jesus Fernandez-Villaverde, Professor of Economics at the University of Pennsylvania and CREDO member, has taught a very interesting and unique course for a secular university. The course entitled, “Foundations of Market Economies” focuses on the role of markets in modern economies and their historical evolution but also blends in material on markets and…
Every year, prior to World Food Day (October 16), the United Nations releases The State of Food Security and Nutrition In The World. Among the key messages of the most recent (2018) issue are that, for the third year in a row, rising numbers of people in the world (now 821 million) suffer “undernourishment” –…
A central principle of Catholic Social Teaching (CST) is the right to food for all persons. For example, in Pacem in Terris (11) St. John XXIII states that “Every man has the right to life, to bodily integrity, and to the means which are suitable for the proper development of life; these are primarily food,…