Yesterday, as I walked into my office, I was met by Rebecca Lowe, one of our senior research fellows, and a gaggle of people I had met via a screen, but never in person. This was pre-coffee, so I was a bit foggy and hesitant to say much, because standing before me was the first cohort of the
Emerging Scholars Program at Mercatus
. I hesitated because I knew how impressive each of these public intellectuals is in their own right.
Henry Oliver writes the Substack Common Reader and is the author of Second Act, which is on my desk.
Elsie Jang is an AI policy scholar who is exploring how emerging technologies are reshaping society.
John Maier is a philosopher and writer whose work has been published in multiple outlets.
Patterson Beaman is an economist with a passion for history and macroeconomic policy.
Revana Sharfuddin is a labor economist who is crushing it in her work on AI and the Labor Force.
Oliver Traldi is a funny, whip-smart philosopher who explores political beliefs and philosophy.
And then I relaxed. I don’t have to be brilliant at a moment’s notice, but they are. And that’s the point of the Emerging Scholars program. Mercatus has always been a home for people who think deeply, challenge assumptions, and ask the hard questions. This new program brings in exactly that kind of talent: people who are already making their mark and now have the space, support, and community to take their ideas even further.
Over the next two years, they’ll work alongside senior Mercatus scholars, communications specialists, policy experts, and other intellectuals. They will sharpen their research and improve their ability to connect ideas to real-world policy debates. In other words, they’ll be doing what Mercatus does best: bridging the gap between theory and practice.
Ben Brophy Director of Marketing
Mercatus Center at George Mason University
Topics & Issues
This probably reveals something deficient in my character, but I love listening to a good argument between two friends who are both brilliant. Rebecca Lowe and Tyler Cowen gave me exactly that in the latest episode of Working Definition.
Chuck Blahous warns us that Social Security faces a dire threat in the form of its projected financing shortfall.
Tyler Cowen reminds us the sky is not falling, nor is everything as good as it could be, in his latest for the Free Press.
Fiscal Dominance isn’t only a U.S. concern: The United Kingdom has its own set of economic problems, according to Jack Salmon.
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