My wife Nona and I have a cherished Christmas tradition: On Christmas Eve, we head to the mall together but shop "separately" ... going from store to store with one another, only splitting when a potential gift catches our eye, no consultations allowed.
If you have an aspiring economist or political economists in your family or broader friends network, please steer them to our programs at GMU (BA/BS; MA; PhD). We would love to have them join the conversation on the liberal principles of political economy and justice. DM for info
Introducing the first episode of our new series: The Hayekian Triangle 🔺
On this episode, our hosts, @vstorr, @ccoyne1, and @PeterBoettke explore the continuing relevance of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations.
Together, they dig into what Smith actually said, why the standard takes on laissez-faire and self-interest so often miss the mark, and what a Scottish moral philosopher writing in 1776 still has to teach us about wealth, poverty, and the institutions that make human flourishing possible.
🎧 Tune in to the Hayek Program Podcast: https://t.co/ealpQd4Z4o
10 years ago today, I defended my dissertation and became Dr. Choi.
A lot has happened since… and I’d say it turned out pretty well!
But it was not a solo effort. I had a mentor who saw my potential and refused to let me fall short.
Thanks for taking a chance on me, @vstorr!
You are not a function.
The race to stay useful in the AI age is a trap.
It will take down universities, and in the wreckage, we will need to recover a vision of formation vs. skills.
I got my start as a Mercatus fellow in a small cubicle back in the early 2000s (Norma Zimdahl fellow), and this @PeterBoettke post resonates.
What made @GeorgeMasonU Econ and @mercatus special wasn’t just “free markets”—it was the insistence that prices, institutions, and culture all matter.
Hard to reduce that to a “school,” but if there is one, it shaped a generation.
What do markets offer the poor?
@ginnyschoi and @vstorr revisit Adam Smith's writings on the potential of markets to improve the material conditions of the poorest in society. https://t.co/EJ7qt3QDwF
If your friends aren't talking about:
-institutions
-self-governance
-political economy
-knowledge problems
-the art of association
-the impartial spectator
Time to find new friends. Apply to @mercatus fellowships to meet them & discuss ideas: https://t.co/xOZqH6Hban
"I like Hayek a lot less ambivalently than I once did, and von Mises, who once seemed to me a crude and irascible precursor of Hayek, now seems to me to be (mostly) a shining star (and sometimes fun, not least because of his crudeness and irascibility). The reason is simple: They were apostles of freedom. They believed in freedom from fear."
I will be talking with Cass Sunstein next week, what questions would you like to see him address about liberalism?
On Classical Liberalism https://t.co/jWSdaih3MY
📢Excited to announce the 1991 Fellowship @mercatus - to find and back the next generation of policy thinkers working on state-level deregulation in India.
Funding, mentorship, and support to turn good ideas into policy.
Apply here: https://t.co/5UhBmJTsXC.
Deadline Feb 28.
Virgil Storr is a master educational entrepreneur. He took a program that was reaching 15 PhD students almost exclusively in economics and philosophy, and expanded through an array of educational programs one that now reaches over 700 students each year exposing them to ideas of Smith and Mill; Hayek and Buchanan; and contemporary developments in the exploration of the liberal principles of political economy and justice. The participants range from HS to PhD, and early career academics to successful serial entrepreneurs. Just take the time to look over the array of opportunities. Virgil has helped create the classic ‘invisible’ university which challenges the orthodoxy in social sciences and humanities and cultivates a critical and creative discourse community of curious and committed life long learners.
I am a huge fan of innovation in education. We in higher ed don’t have enough innovation. But sometimes the most innovative initiatives can be grounded in the old methods of Socratic dialogue. @vstorr Fellowship Programs | Mercatus Center https://t.co/po4zWSmyg5
Have graduate training in political economy and social philosophy? Want to be in the talent cultivation business? Or know someone who does?
What a coincidence!😉
We’re hiring for the Research & Programs team with @mercatus
Apply here: https://t.co/phb2f3kkgg
Congratulations, Virgil! Researching the mechanisms by which communities respond to and recover from disasters is vital to understanding resilience.
Learn more: https://t.co/dwidNzuYnE
250 years ago the Declaration of Independence announced our unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Though the creator endowed us with those rights, they didn’t and still don’t extend equally to all. A 🧵 on the bottom-up expansion of women’s rights. 1/n
And, then see her intriguing “Withdrawing Consent” where she argues that polycentric systems gave women ways to withdraw consent from oppressive legal strictures. 13/n
https://t.co/ad7jOC8UK1