Ideas for
Prosperity
Tomorrow’s leaders need better, bolder ideas about how to make our society freer and more prosperous. That’s why the Civitas Institute exists, plain and simple.
Through research, commentary, and public outreach, we explore all aspects of a free and vibrant society, including economic dynamism, individual flourishing, civic virtue, and constitutionalism.
The Civitas Institute is part of the School of Civic Leadership at the University of Texas at Austin.
Independent thought, civil discourse, free speech, reasoned deliberation and intellectual curiosity are central to our ethos.
The Civitas Institute takes its name from The University of Texas at Austin motto, Disciplina Praesidium Civitatis, a condensed Latin rendering of Mirabeau Lamar’s famous statement that a “cultivated mind is the guardian genius of democracy.”
This origin reflects both the university’s institutional heritage and the Institute’s interest in the link between knowledge and liberty.
Our history
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We are dedicated to exploring the ideas and institutions that create flourishing societies.
John Wayne and the American Redemption
In 3 Godfathers, John Ford beautifully retells the story of the Magi through American Western myth and theology.
Reiner, Stand By Me
Stand By Me is the closest Reiner came to dramatizing the relationship between suffering and seriousness, and he deserves our gratitude for his gentle treatment of the matter.
What Adam Smith’s Justice Teaches Us About Stealing Benefits
There is a constant tension in liberal systems between the shared trust necessary for the system's survival and the use of public entitlements paid for at public expense.
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