Mercatus Center Academic & Student Programs

07/03/2025

How do governments shape expertise in times of crisis?

Roger Koppl, Kira Pronin, Marta Podemska-Mikluch, and Smith Alums Nick Cowen & Pablo Paniagua argue temporary expert committees give governments greater control over policy advice than standing agencies.

Many governments formed ad hoc scientific advisory committees in the Covid-19 pandemic because they offered the government greater control over policy advice than standing agencies. The difference between ad hoc and standing advisory bodies has been little noted in the literature. High-uncertainty c...

07/02/2025

Will populism cripple our ability to survive catastrophe?

PhD Alum Chris Coyne applauds Andrew Leigh for pushing readers to think about the issue of catastrophic risk, but critiques his narrow reliance on government solutions.

How can societies best deal with risks that are potentially catastrophic? Andrew Leigh, an Australian politician, seeks to answer this question by exploring what he believes are the biggest existential risks facing humanity—pandemics, climate change, nuclear weapons, and artificial intelligence. H...

07/01/2025

To what extent are checks & balances effective in preventing tyranny? ⚖️

PhD Alum Maria Pia Paganelli contrasts James Madison’s faith in rivalrous ambitions with Adam Smith’s concern that competing interests only multiply demands for privilege.

June 11, 2025 Adam Smith gives reasons in Wealth of Nations to think that countering ambition with ambition is not enough in a world of special interests looking to influence, rather than directly control, the government. 

06/30/2025

This Independence Day, celebrate the spirit of liberty with thought-provoking reads from the Independent Institute. 🗽

For a limited time, save 76% on books like:
📘Is Social Justice Just?
📘How to Run Wars
📘In Search of Monsters to Destroy
📘Living Economics.. and many more!

06/30/2025

What explains the rise of corporate social activism?

The Summer 2025 Issue of the Independent Review, edited by PhD Alums Rosolino Candela and Caleb Fuller, examines whether it stems from a separation of ownership and control—or serves as a tool for profit maximization.

The papers in this symposium offer a range of insights into the recent rise of corporate social activism. One set of explanations argues that activism arises due to the separation of ownership and control and the failure of the market to punish managers who don't pursue owners' interests—often exa...

06/27/2025

Does capitalism breed cronyism, or merely inherit it?

PhD Fellow André Quintas and PhD Alum Peter Boettke explore Holcombe's claim that cronyism is an inevitable byproduct of capitalism in contrast with Wagner's view that it predates and actively shapes its development.

The growing entanglement between political and economic elites has fueled concerns about inequality, stagnation, and democratic erosion. Both critics of capitalism and classical liberal thinkers condemn the privileges and rent-seeking that arise in this context-but they diverge in their diagnosis. C...

06/26/2025

How can we study institutions to better understand how they emerge and evolve?

PhD Alum Peter Boettke revives Buchanan’s call for a genuine institutional economics and reflects on 25 years of Mercatus research into this question.

This essay discusses James M. Buchanan's call for a "genuine institutional economics" and discusses research over the past 25 years by me and my colleagues at the Mercatus Center developing that program by focusing on endogenous rule formation in various settings. This work not only explored the fun...

06/26/2025

2024-2025 Frédéric Bastiat Fellows

06/26/2025

2024-2025 James Buchanan Fellows

06/25/2025

Do high levels of immigration weaken the very institutions that attract migrants?

On the latest episode of the , PhD Alums Ben Powell and Nathan Goodman examine how the empirical record challenges common fears about immigration.

On this episode, Nathan Goodman chats with economist Ben Powell about common myths surrounding mass immigration, includ

06/24/2025

Join Students For Liberty's 2025 Policy Summit to explore some of the most pressing public policy debates through a classical liberal lens.

Featuring discussions on tariffs & trade, criminal justice, foreign policy, innovation, and navigating a career in the liberty movement with speakers like Don Boudreaux.

06/19/2025

Can competition revive Latin Mass?⛪

PhD alums Ennio Piano, Benjamin Bauer, and Clara Piano show how religious market rivalry boosts access to traditional services.

The Catholic Church enacted broad reforms after the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), notably to the liturgies that Catholics must attend every Sunday. However, there has been a revival of pre-Vati...