Mercatus Center

Benjamin Klutsey is the Mercatus Center’s next executive director

Sarah Holland — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 18:16:18 +0000

Benjamin Klutsey is the Mercatus Center’s next executive director Sarah Holland Wed, 04/03/2024 - 14:16

Benjamin Klutsey has been named the next executive director of the Mercatus Center at ��AV.

Benjamin Klutsey. Photo provided.

Klutsey will start on June 1, succeeding current executive director Daniel M. Rothschild, who will step down after 10 years in the role.

“I'm thrilled to be taking on the role of executive director at the Mercatus Center,” Klutsey said. “Mercatus has been an intellectual home for me, as well as a place of personal and professional growth. I look forward to building on the organization’s successes and continuing our work to produce the talent, ideas, and programs that uphold and advance the classical liberal tradition.”

“I’ve worked with Ben for over a decade and seen firsthand how his passion for ideas, commitment to intellectual integrity, and willingness to experiment has helped Mercatus become a stronger, smarter, and more interesting organization,” Rothschild said. “I know that there is no one better suited to lead Mercatus’ next chapter, and I am excited for more of the greater Mercatus community to have the opportunity to get to know and work with Ben.”

Klutsey first worked at the Mercatus Center as a research fellow from 2008-10. His work focused on financial markets and the fallout of the 2008 financial crisis. Klutsey then spent four years at the Institute of International Finance before returning to Mercatus to manage the financial regulation and monetary policy research programs. In this role, Klutsey co-edited the book “Reframing Financial Regulation” with Hester Peirce.

For the past three years, Klutsey has been the founding director of Mercatus’ Program on Pluralism and Civil Exchange, an initiative dedicated to fostering a deeper understanding and appreciation for pluralism as a fundamental pillar of a free, flourishing, and prosperous society. Most recently, Klutsey starred in “UNDIVIDE US,” a documentary about the power of open discourse and civic exchange.

“I am pleased to welcome Ben into this new role,” said Tyler Cowen, faculty director of the Mercatus Center. “I have worked with Ben for many years and know that he’ll be stepping into this position with excitement and a passion for the Mercatus mission. I would also like to thank our current executive director, Dan Rothschild, for his 10 years of service. He has grown Mercatus into the organization that it is today, and he will be greatly missed.”

Over the past decade, support for the Mercatus Center has grown by more than 140 percent, with more than 3,500 students receiving graduate and undergraduate support. The organization launched five podcasts, started an online magazine, and published groundbreaking research on topics like the Ex-Im Bank and the true cost of Medicare for All. Additionally, the Mercatus Center offered a swift and robust response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including a rapid response COVID-19 policy brief series and Fast Grants, a quick-turnaround funding program for scientists working on COVID-19 vaccines and treatments. Fast Grants raised more than $50 million and awarded 260 grants toward critical research in less than six months.

As a university-based research center at George Mason, Mercatus seeks to bridge the gap between academic research and policy problems by advancing an understanding of the economics of public policy. Mercatus scholars conduct research, identify talent and train students around the world, and share research findings with the media, policymakers, and fellow academics.

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Mason’s academic rigor and growth highlight BOV meeting

Colleen Rich — Mon, 11 Dec 2023 16:18:32 +0000

Mason’s academic rigor and growth highlight BOV meeting Colleen Rich Mon, 12/11/2023 - 11:18

��AV is considering a partnership with Major League Cricket (MLC) to build a state-of-the-art facility that would be home to both the Mason baseball team and the Washington Freedom cricket franchise.

Photo by Evan Cantwell/Office of University Branding

Mason Interim Provost and Executive Vice President Ken Walsh and Sanjay Govil, owner of the Washington Freedom MLC team, made a joint presentation to the university’s Board of Visitors on Nov. 30. The BOV will further consider the partnership at a Dec. 14 meeting.

The stadium would be the first step toward planned growth on the western side of the Fairfax Campus.

“We see the overall West Campus development as a long-term goal, as a means of generating new funding for the university, and enhancing campus engagement for our faculty, staff, and students,” Walsh said.

. . .

The Board of Visitors approved several actions as the Nov. 30 meeting, including:

The state six-year operating plan.
Three new education degree programs: a Master of Education in Literacy Education, a Master of Education in Inclusive Early Childhood Education, and a Bachelor of Science in Education in Secondary Education.
The schematic design for a new Activities Building on the Fairfax Campus, with construction set to begin in March 2024. The one-story building, to be located between the Recreation Athletic Complex and Ox Road, will have two basketball courts and serve various student activities and provide space for ensemble and pep band practices.

. . .

Six-year graduation rates for Mason students continue to exceed national averages.

Seventy-two percent of Mason undergraduates earn their degree within six years compared to 64% nationally and 58% among public universities nationally. The rate for Pell Grant recipients at Mason also is 72%. That’s 20% higher than the national average and 25% higher than the national public university average.

“It demonstrates our commitment that every student can succeed,” said Ryan Braun, director of undergraduate academic success, who cited the extensive support network available to Mason students, including academic advisors and success coaches, as one reason for the university’s graduation rates.

The number of students considering Mason continues to increase. There are 10,383 in-state applications for Fall 2024, up from 9,062 in Fall 2023. There are 5,514 out-of-state applications, up from 4,857.

. . .

Mercatus Center faculty director Tyler Cowen, BS Economics ’83, and economics professor Alex Tabarrok, PhD Economics ’94, gave a presentation about the center’s international reputation for economics research and its student focus. Currently Mercatus has 79 students working there, but altogether 436 Mason alumni have passed through the center.

“The fact I am faculty director of Mercatus and I was a student [at Mercatus] I think is important,” Cowen said. He also highlighted Virgil Storr, PhD Economics ’03), who is on the Mercatus Board and serves as vice president of academic and student programs.

“Keeping the student connection alive through what we do and not just at a distance is essential to who we are…. We view ourselves as a bridge between theory, research, and the real world,” Cowen said.

Cowen recalled that when he came to Mason as a student in 1980, the Economics Department was in a house on Roberts Road. Now Mercatus scholars alone have published 93 books in the last five years.

“If you believe in progress, George Mason is where you should be,” Cowen said. “We have made that a reality. Gone from an unknown school with a little quad…to a Tier 1 research university, two Nobel laureates, top 50 programs. That has made the career of my life.”

The Mercatus Center has awarded 790 grants around the world through its Emergent Ventures program, addressing a host of societal issues, and the Fast Grants program raised more than $50 million to accelerate COVID-19 research, including the saliva tests that Yale University created and that Mason used during the pandemic.

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Fast Grants to aid in the development of a pan-coronavirus vaccine

John Hollis — Mon, 13 Dec 2021 17:49:07 +0000

Fast Grants to aid in the development of a pan-coronavirus vaccine John Hollis Mon, 12/13/2021 - 12:49

Tyler Cowen is a professor of economics and the faculty director at the Mercatus Center. Photo provided

��AV’s Fast Grants program continues to play a leading role in the global pandemic by expediting critical research needed in the fight against COVID-19.

The philanthropic effort, which is part of the Emergent Ventures program for innovators based within Mason’s Mercatus Center, recently received nearly $7 million from generous benefactors, most of whom have chosen to remain anonymous. As a result, the Fast Grants Program was able to quickly send out nearly $4 million in support of pan-coronavirus vaccine research at the University of Washington and at the California Institute of Technology in the hopes of soon developing a vaccine that can offer protection against every strain of the virus.

“The necessity to fight back against COVID is obvious,” said Tyler Cowen, a professor of economics within Mason’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences and the faculty director of the Mercatus Center. “We are supporting research into vaccines that will—if they succeed—work against all variants to come in the future. And Fast Grants has had a good track record supporting quality research against COVID, and in a timely manner. The researchers have some initial promising results. Now they can get started on the next steps right away.”

Cowen, who founded Emergent Ventures, announced the start of the Fast Grants program in March 2020 in the hopes of inspiring immediate breakthroughs in the fight against the deadly virus that has now claimed more than 5.2 million lives around the globe, including nearly 800,000 Americans, according to the World Health Organization.

Donors soon began coming forward to aid in the efforts, including Telsa’s Elon Musk, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, among others.

Launched with a $1 million grant from the Thiel Foundation, Emergent Ventures Fast Grants range between $10,000 and $500,000. Decisions on funding typically are made within 14 days of requests and are quickly dispersed to recipients.

To date, the Fast Grants program has distributed more than $54 million in more than 200 grants, including several for potential vaccines and treatments for the virus.

“I am hoping this work can save lives,” Cowen said, “and restore our economy to normal operation more rapidly. Perhaps it also will be the basis of future advances in medical sciences, directed at other problems as well.”

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Donor gives a second multimillion-dollar gift to Emergent Ventures for COVID-19 fight in India

John Hollis — Tue, 01 Jun 2021 19:09:32 +0000

Donor gives a second multimillion-dollar gift to Emergent Ventures for COVID-19 fight in India John Hollis Tue, 06/01/2021 - 15:09

A repeated anonymous donor has gifted an addition $2 million to Emergent Ventures India to help in the fight against COVID-19. Photo by Getty Images

A previous donor to Emergent Ventures Fast Grants is providing additional support to the program with the intent of helping to alleviate the ongoing COVID-19 crisis in India.

The anonymous donor from the New York City financial community recently contributed an additional $2 million, much of which will be used by Emergent Ventures India to help that country’s scientists better analyze data that will help them better allocate medical resources in the fight against the lethal virus that is ravaging the world’s second-most populous country.

Tyler Cowen

“The ongoing problems in India, I do think were a motivating force,” said Tyler Cowen, a professor of economics within Mason’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences and the faculty director of the Mercatus Center that houses the Emergent Ventures program. “A lot of people wanted to help and they weren’t sure what to do, so they’re delegating that out to others like Emergent Ventures.”

Cowen founded the Fast Grants program in 2020 with the hopes of incentivizing the fight against COVID-19. A $1 million grant from the Thiel Foundation launched the program, which Cowen said has received an overwhelming response and has sparked significant scientific progress.

“For me, it’s been very heartening to see a lot of the people receive the money and have success in helping the world,” he said.

Emergent Ventures Fast Grants range between $10,000 and $500,000, with decisions about who receives them typically taking less than 14 days before they are dispersed to recipients.

To date, the program has doled out roughly $60 million in more than 240 grants, including several for potential vaccines and treatments for COVID-19. A Fast Grant to Yale University scientists last fall played a key role in the development of the successful NBA “bubble” in Orlando.

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Podcast - EP24: With Emergent Ventures, Tyler Cowen puts money where his mind is

Damian Cristodero — Tue, 04 May 2021 18:47:22 +0000

Podcast - EP24: With Emergent Ventures, Tyler Cowen puts money where his mind is Damian Cristodero Tue, 05/04/2021 - 14:47

In This Story

Gregory Washington

Emergent Ventures, which looks for big and unique ideas, has raised $60 million and funded more than 200 projects. Mason economist and co-founder Tyler Cowen says the grants are “something you can win that’s not about connections.” Push ideas, he said. “Make the world tell you no.” Cowen also talks about how the Fast Grants program is helping fight Covid-19, why having children can help fight climate change and why he is optimistic about the U.S. economy.