Mercatus Center at George Mason University

10/15/2026

A three-bedroom home with a garage for around $180,000? In Wichita, Kansas, that's still possible. 🏠

The city is seeing a surge in starter home duplexes, which have made up roughly 40% of new housing production over the past five years.

These homes may be modest, but they offer something increasingly difficult to find in many communities: an affordable first step into homeownership.

Mercatus's Salim Furth joined the Show-Me Institute podcast to discuss what Wichita is doing differently and why local housing regulations can make starter homes harder to build elsewhere.

Watch the clip, and find the full conversation in the comments.

10/14/2026

Austin added 23.6% to its housing stock from 2020 to 2025. Providence added just 2.5%.

The chart shows what happened alongside that difference. Rents fell in Denver and Austin, where more homes were built. In Philadelphia and Providence, where housing growth was more limited, rents rose or remained high.

That pattern raises an important question: What can states do to make it easier to build the homes people need?

In Housing Reform in the States: A Menu of Options for 2027, Mercatus researchers outline 18 policy options across three areas:

1️⃣ Reverse regulatory overreach
2️⃣ Improve legal frameworks
3️⃣ Update construction standards

Together, these options offer practical ways to expand housing choices and help more communities respond to demand.

Read the full research in the comments.

10/13/2026

The stories we tell about the economy matter. They shape how we understand what went wrong in the past and how we respond when something new disrupts the way we live and work.

That idea runs through Mercatus Executive Director Ben Klutsey’s conversation with economist and colleague Don Boudreaux on A Resilient Republic.

They revisit familiar stories about the Great Depression, manufacturing jobs, trade deficits, and economic change, asking what the evidence actually tells us about how markets have performed. Then they bring the conversation into the present with AI and the future of work.

Don describes himself as an AI optimist. He doesn’t claim to know which jobs or opportunities will emerge, but he sees reason in economic history to believe that people and markets can adapt as technology changes.

Watch or listen to Ben and Don’s full conversation: https://bit.ly/4dCc1HH

Economist and professor Don Boudreaux joins the podcast to discuss his recent book, The Triumph of Economic Freedom. Boudreaux debunks common myths about the Great Depression and American trade deficits and offers an optimistic perspective on the rise of artificial intelligence, arguing that despite...

10/12/2026

Self-employment grew 11% in UK industries with high AI adoption between early 2024 and early 2026, compared to just 1% in industries with lower adoption.

Could AI be making it easier for more people to work for themselves?

Mercatus scholar Liya Palagashvili examines this possibility in an op-ed at CapX, drawing on early evidence from the UK and similar trends in the US.

As AI tools make it possible for individuals to take on tasks that once required larger teams or organizations, entrepreneurship and independent work could become more accessible.

Liya explores what these trends could mean for the future of work and why labor-market policies should account for opportunities beyond traditional employment.

Read her full op-ed in the comments.

10/09/2026

Commercial space companies interact with multiple regulators, which makes clarity about who oversees what especially important.

Mercatus Research Fellow Aakrith Harikumar recently shared his perspective with the FCC as the agency moves to modernize its environmental review rules.

His point is straightforward: the FCC’s role in authorizing spectrum use does not mean it is responsible for every aspect of a satellite’s launch, deployment, and operation. Clearer boundaries can give companies a more predictable regulatory environment while leaving environmental and safety concerns with the agencies responsible for addressing them.

The FCC highlighted Aakrith’s comments alongside other stakeholder perspectives in a recent release.

Read more: https://bit.ly/3TSsfWq

Interested in more of Aakrith Harikumar’s work on space policy and regulation? He writes alongside his colleagues at Space Jam!. Find the link in the comments.

The FCC will vote on permitting reforms to modernize the agency's approach to National Environmental Policy Act regulations and cut billions of dollars' worth of red tape. Stakeholders across the board are applauding the action.

10/08/2026

Until now, researchers haven’t had a freely available database for studying commuter market access across the U.S.

How many jobs can someone reach from a given neighborhood? How many potential workers can reach a specific work site? The Mercatus Commuter Market Access Dataset brings those answers together in one place.

Take Massachusetts. People around Boston can reach vastly more jobs by car than residents elsewhere in the state. Even within Greater Boston, access can look very different depending on how close you are to downtown or a major highway.

The dataset makes it easier to explore how housing, transportation, congestion, and geography connect people with jobs.

Curious what commuter access looks like where you live? Find the dataset in the comments.

10/07/2026

The European Commission is considering new restrictions on major cloud providers like AWS and Azure. Satya Marar argues the effects could be felt by the European startups and businesses that rely on them.

In a new piece at Fair Observer, the Mercatus Research Fellow looks at what the proposed “gatekeeper” designation could mean for Europe’s cloud market.

European startups rely on cloud providers for computing power, infrastructure, and increasingly, access to AI. Satya points to a market where businesses can choose among multiple providers, prices have fallen, and companies continue to compete for customers.

He argues that additional regulation could add costs and delay new technologies for the European businesses that depend on these services.

For Europe, the stakes go beyond cloud computing. Rules that leave room for competition, investment, and experimentation can help create the conditions for businesses and new ideas to flourish.

Read Satya’s piece at the Fair Observer:

The European Commission’s sanctioning of Google and classification of Amazon Web Services and Azure as “gatekeepers” imposes redundant

10/06/2026

Congratulations to Mercatus Senior Research Fellow Kristen Collins on being selected for the inaugural cohort of Georgetown University’s AIDC Community Fellows.

The 2026–27 cohort brings together scholars and practitioners to examine questions of democratic judgment in the age of AI, a natural extension of Kristen’s work at Mercatus on political theory and the ethics and politics of technology.

We’re excited to see Kristen bring that expertise to the AIDC community.

Read Georgetown’s full announcement: https://bit.ly/4hJeBN0

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Georgetown University’s Initiative on Artificial Intelligence and Democratic Citizenship (AIDC) has selected eight scholars and practitioners to serve as Fellows for the 2026–27 academic year. The inaugural cohort will examine one of the defining questions of the emerging AI...

10/06/2026

AI may be a digital technology, but building the infrastructure behind it takes a lot of very real investment.

Think data centers, semiconductors, power generation, transmission, cooling systems, networks, and real estate. Mercatus Senior Fellow and Former Kansas City Fed President Tom Hoenig points to estimates that AI infrastructure spending could reach $1.2 trillion in 2027 and $1.4 trillion in 2028.

All of that capital has to come from somewhere. And AI companies are entering the market at a time when growing federal debt is also putting significant demand on available funds.

In a new piece at FinRegRag, Hoenig considers what that competition could mean for interest rates, private investment, and economic growth as more borrowers compete for capital.

Find the link to his full analysis in the comments.

10/05/2026

A pension reform in the Netherlands could have consequences well beyond Dutch retirees.

The country is changing how its enormous pension system invests workers’ savings. Mercatus Emerging Scholar and Research Fellow Geert Ensing argues that the reforms could give pension funds more flexibility to seek better returns for workers, particularly younger ones.

There’s a ripple effect. Dutch pension funds have traditionally been major buyers of long-term European government debt. As that demand falls, governments such as Germany and France may have to pay higher rates to attract other investors.

Writing at The Unseen and The Unsaid, Geert explores what one country’s pension reform could mean for workers, financial markets, and government borrowing across Europe.

Read the full piece: https://bit.ly/47CfL8s

A major pension reform in the Netherlands could deliver better returns for Dutch workers.