Mercatus Center at George Mason University

08/31/2026

What makes a free society resilient?

Part of the answer lies in the ideas and institutions beneath it, and whether each generation understands why they are worth preserving.

In Episode 3 of A Resilient Republic, Mercatus Executive Director and host Ben Klutsey talks with Stephanie Slade about fusionism and the relationship between liberty and virtue.

Slade argues that liberty is necessary for human flourishing, but it is not sufficient on its own. A free society also needs the moral and intellectual traditions that help people understand what freedom is for.

Institutions have an important role to play in passing those ideas from one generation to the next.

Listen to Ben Klutsey’s conversation with Stephanie Slade, and subscribe to be alerted of new episode releases: https://bit.ly/3T0KBnE

Stephanie Slade joins the podcast to talk about her years of research on the evolving right and the eroding foundations of American conservatism.

08/31/2026

The 22nd Century Indian offers an optimistic look at India’s next generation of builders and doers.

The new short documentary by Shaurya Sinha follows a group of 20-year-olds building in Hoskote, just outside Bangalore.

Among those featured are Mercatus Emergent Ventures India winners Naman Pushp, Khushi Mittal, Shreeporna Rao, Samay Sanghvi, and Angad Daryani.

Watch their perspectives on India’s future: https://bit.ly/4qMMbpK

25 kilometres east of Bangalore, a group of 20 year olds are buildi...

08/28/2026

Can individual liberty and a commitment to virtue coexist?

On Humane Pursuits, host Garrett Brown talks with Reason senior editor Stephanie Slade about fusionism, where the tradition came from, why it lost ground within American conservatism, and whether it still has something to offer today.

Slade’s new book, Fusionism: Liberty, Virtue, and the Future of the American Right is out now. The link to order is in the comments.

Listen to the conversation:

Why a just society needs both liberty and virtue

08/27/2026

Half of Americans with a known mental health condition never seek professional help because of barriers like cost, stigma, or fear of unwanted intervention.

For some young people, AI chatbots can offer a low-stakes place to put difficult feelings into words before deciding what to do next.

That doesn’t make AI a replacement for professional mental health care. But Satya Marar argues that broad restrictions on how minors can use AI could have unintended consequences, including cutting off uses that young people find helpful.

Instead of one-size-fits-all rules, he makes the case for a more targeted approach that gives families more choice, encourages developers to build safer systems, and invests in AI literacy and better research.

Read Marar’s latest at DC Journal:

When it comes to protecting kids online, good intentions don’t guarantee good policy, especially when policymakers want to restrict minors’ AI use through

08/26/2026

Long before the Bolsheviks took power, Russian women were already at the forefront of the country’s artistic, intellectual, and political upheaval.

Julia Ioffe tells Tyler Cowen on Conversations with Tyler that debates over the “woman question” and women’s emancipation were already well underway. There were even so many female political radicals that the Tsars had to build a second women’s prison to hold them.

Their full conversation continues to explore how the role of Russian women changed through the Russian Empire, Soviet society, and modern Russia.

Find the full episode in the first comment.

08/25/2026

As AI transforms the labor market, some jobs may be changing faster than others.

Liya Palagashvili's latest research looked at workers in occupations with the highest and lowest exposure to AI.

Here's what she found:
💠 Workers in the 10 most AI-exposed occupations saw solo self-employment increase by 20%.
💠 Workers in the 10 least AI-exposed occupations saw almost no change.

That doesn't mean AI is replacing these jobs. Rather, it suggests some professionals may be finding new ways to work.

If you're curious what the rest of the data shows, Liya breaks it all down in seven easy-to-follow charts.

Read “AI and Independent Work in 7 Charts" in the first comment.

08/24/2026

New Mexico needs more housing. A lot more.

The state is short at least 58,000 homes, and new research from Mercatus and Homewise looks at one way to help: making it easier to get housing approved and built.

Homewise’s Johanna Gilligan, Veronica Toledo, and Nathan Lindquist and Mercatus Senior Research Fellow Salim Furth identify permitting delays and red tape that can get in the way of new housing, along with practical reforms at the state and local levels.

Source New Mexico recently took a closer look at the findings and what they could mean for the state. Read their coverage here: https://bit.ly/4xfmHUs

The full Mercatus research is linked in the first comment.

The NM Legislature needs to help cities build more housing by offering state incentives and beefing up a state housing agency, report says.

08/21/2026

It’s always great to see former Mercatus colleagues doing exciting work.

Tia Jacobs recently became a Developer at Sherman Associates. On By the Skyline, she talks about her career, her master’s in urban and regional planning, her time at Mercatus, and where she hopes to go next.

Listen:

Tia Jacobs, a recently promoted developer at Sherman Associates, talks about her career, her time getting her master’s degree in urban and regional planning, as well as what types of projects she would like to take up in the future.

08/21/2026

Economic growth is not random. And neither is interstate migration.

Some states keep gaining residents and income. Others keep losing them.

Jack Salmon’s research shows South Carolina gained nearly 290,000 residents and more than $19 billion in income from 2018 to 2023. Arkansas gained more than 53,000 residents and nearly $2 billion.

Louisiana lost more than 110,000 residents and about $3.6 billion in income. Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio also saw major income losses.

So what separates the gainers from the states losing people and income?

Salmon’s research points to lower tax burdens, more flexible housing supply, economic freedom, and greater labor market freedom.

Related Mercatus research digs deeper into housing streamlining and portable benefits, two areas where states can improve their ability to attract and retain residents, workers, and investment.

Policy choices help shape whether states are places where people can build homes, careers, businesses, and wealth.

Explore the full research and compare your state in the first comment.

08/20/2026

Why do some people stop wanting meat after becoming vegetarian, while others still crave it decades later?

Rebecca Lowe and J.P. Andrew discuss the gap between our moral beliefs and our desires, including Andrew’s experience of “moral revulsion” toward meat and why those reactions can vary so much from person to person.

Find the full episode of Working Definition in the first comment.