Almost everything you hear at graduations - and read on the internet, and watch on television - focuses on the idea of work, especially entrepreneurship, as a means of self-expression and (to use the term from David Brooks) self-actualization.

The role of free enterprise in American culture is a defining issue of the day. None of the major policy questions that dominate the public discussion—tax rates, the deficit, broadband, roads—can be understood without a clear vision of the proper relationship between the government and the private sector. And this requires a theory of free enterprise.

The common-sense use of the term "addiction" is that regular consumption is irresistible and that it creates problems. Caffeine use does not fit this profile.

Studies of the impact of the economy on presidential elections have found that bad economies tend to hurt incumbent parties.

A coherent vision for federal education policy starts not by micromanaging schools, but by focusing on the four functions Washington alone can perform.

President Obama says that he has "complete confidence" in Attorney General Eric Holder. That's good news for Republicans. Pick almost any unnecessary, losing battle in Obama's first term, and his hapless attorney general is at the center of it.

Trying to pursue data-driven reform without essential operational and performance data is a recipe for frustration.

On January 31, 2011, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued for public comment a proposed approach for recognizing impairment allowances on financial assets.