March 1999

Related Links James M. Buchanan Center for Political Economy Mercatus Center

Buchanan, Mercatus Centers Set Courses for Research, Outreach, and Education By Karen Louden Allanach Over the past few months, two of George Mason University's academic and research centers, the James M. Buchanan Center for Political Economy and the Mercatus Center, have undergone organizational changes and have emerged under new leadership with individual goals as well as joint projects. Tyler Cowen, Economics, is general director for both the Buchanan and Mercatus Centers. The Buchanan Center has narrowed its focus to academic endeavors, while the Mercatus Center targets outreach initiatives and partnerships in addition to academic study. "We saw benefits to that split," says Cowen. "Everyone was happy with the new arrangement." James M. Buchanan, Nobel laureate and George Mason economics professor, gives his name to the esteemed center located in City of Fairfax. The current arganization is an evolution of a merger between the Center for Study of Public Choice and Center for Market Processes. The center is located in City of Fairfax, although it maintains offices at the Fairfax Campus and an outpost at the Arlington Campus. The Buchanan House, a separate facility at the Fairfax Campus, is run by Buchanan to encourage the development of public choice and constitutional political economy. It houses the Buchanan library and hosts weekly brown bag lunches during the academic year. The academic organization is devoted to the study of the social sciences. The Buchanan Center includes the Center for Study of Public Choice, with plans to expand programs in law and economics as well as market process economics. Both centers work in partnership with a number of George Mason organizations, including the Institute for Humane Studies, the School of Law, and the privately funded Law and Economics Center. The Mercatus Center, formerly known as the Center for Market Processes, is scheduled to relocate from the Fairfax Campus to the Arlington Campus in late spring. The center integrates scholarly research, talent development, and outreach efforts to decision-makers. The faculty boasts an array of scholars and leaders, including Wendy Lee Gramm, former chairman of the Commodity Futures Exchange Commission, and Maurice McTigue, former cabinet minister of New Zealand. The Mercatus Center recently sponsored two forums for policymakers and educators: the November 1998 Commonwealth Conference, held in Williamsburg, and the 1999 Chief of Staff Winter Retreat in Annapolis. The Commonwealth Conference was co-sponsored with the University of Virginia's Center for Governmental Studies, directed by political scientist Larry Sabato. The event attracted 50 Virginia policymakers with more than a dozen scholars and practitioners to discuss and debate different approaches toward Virginia policy. The Chief of Staff Retreat attracted 111 senior congressional staff members from both sides of the aisle, and featured presentations by Stephen Goldsmith, mayor of the city of Indianapolis, Ind., and Morley Wingrad, senior policy advisor to the vice president and director of the National Performance Review. While separate groups, the Mercatus and Buchanan Centers are working jointly on some projects and conferences in their common interests of law, economics, and philosophy. For example, in December, the two centers jointly sponsored a symposium on dynamic competition and public policy. The symposium brought together six leading scholars with key regulatory officials to explore multiple theories of dynamic competition and their application to current public policy issues. The two centers jointly support graduate student fellowships and are making a combined donation to the university to create more faculty slots as well. "All of our programs are growing," Cowen says. For more information on the Buchanan and Mercatus Centers, contact Cowen at tcowen@gmu.edu or (703) 934-6970.