Mercatus Center
Encyclopedia : M : ME : MER : Mercatus Center
The Mercatus Center at George Mason University is a research, education, and outreach organization that works with policy experts, lobbyists, and government officials to connect academic learning and real world practice.
The Mercatus Center was founded by Rich Fink, former president of the Koch Foundations, which funds a network of market-oriented think tanks and advocacy groups. Originally Center for Market Processes, it moved from Rutgers University to George Mason in the early 1980s before assuming its current name in 1999. Through the Koch Foundations, the Koch family, owner of Koch Industries, has given millions of dollars to Mercatus since its founding.[link]
Mercatus' stated mission is to integrate theory and practice to produce solutions that sustainably advance a free, prosperous, and civil society. Mercatus has several research and outreach programs - Capitol Hill Campus, the Government Accountability Project, the Regulatory Studies Program, and the Global Prosperity Initiative - which aims to synthesize and communicate new academic research and economic reasoning about policy to policymakers.
The Mercatus Center is located on George Mason University's Arlington Campus, along with the George Mason University School of Law, the Law and Economics Center, and its sister organization, the Institute for Humane Studies. Its general director and board chairman is George Mason economics professor Tyler Cowen. Other Board members include Wendy Lee Gramm, wife of ex-Senator Phil Gramm, Edwin Meese, Charles G. Koch, and Rich Fink.
In 2001, the Office of Management and Budget asked for public input on which regulations should be revised or killed. Mercatus submitted 44 of the 71 proposals the OMB received. The recommendations from Mercatus critiqued regulations such as a proposed Interior Department rule prohibiting snowmobiles in Rocky Mountain National Park, a Transportation Department rule limiting truckers' hours behind the wheel, and an EPA rule limiting the amount of arsenic in drinking water. [link]
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