The Mercatus Center at George Mason University is a university-based research center that focuses primarily on economics. It was founded in 1980 by Richard Fink, then a professor at Rutgers, with a grant from Charles Koch. The Mercatus Center seeks to “bridge the gap between academic research and public policy problems.”
Climate Change:
Officially, the Mercatus Center accepts the science of climate change. However, they have not always accepted climate change science. In a since deleted article published in 2001, the Mercatus Center wrote that “the evidence regarding global warming and human contribution to it is mixed…if a slight warming does occur, historical evidence suggests it is likely to be beneficial.” Also, its current research fellows do not believe that suggested solutions are necessary or will be effective.
In 2017, Veronique de Rugy, a senior research fellow, published an article titled “Calls for a Carbon Tax Are Misguided.” In this article, she wrote that people advocate for carbon taxes because they have something to gain financially from a carbon tax. She listed Elon Musk as an example, saying that he would benefit from a carbon tax as someone who develops electric cars and solar power.
In the same article, de Rugy also wrote that “there’s reason enough to be skeptical about the environmental claims. The debate over climate change is obviously complicated and extremely politically charged…It’s not unreasonable to question whether we should be basing policy on predictive climate models that have overestimated future temperatures for decades and are likely overly sensitive to changes in carbon dioxide.” According to de Rugy, not only are carbon taxes ineffective, but they might not be necessary, given the “negligible impact” of climate change.
In a 2018 article titled “Fear Climate Change– and Our Response to It,” Tyler Cowen, the Holbert L. Harris Chair of Economics at George Mason University, wrote that while “the potential costs of climate change, already the subject of heated debate, may actually be understated,” the real economic cost will be in the suggested response to climate change, saying that “we may respond to those problems in stupid and destructive ways.” Cowen does not offer any alternative policies, but rather compares unnamed, future policies to Brexit, calling it a disaster.
In 2019, Cowen wrote another article, “Want to Help Fight Climate Change? Have More Children.” This article, also published behind a paywall on Bloomberg, advocates for people to have more children because of climate change. His argument is that children “are more likely to be part of the solution than the problem.” His reasoning for this argument seems to be that having more children will make the country more populous, thus raising the chances of the United States finding a solution to climate change. However, he admits that this argument is “silly and nihilistic,” and that having more children would in fact increase the amount of greenhouse gases.
In April 2021, Pasquale DiFrancesco, a graduate student in Economics at George Mason University and the external relations manager at the Mercatus Center wrote an article titled “Does the U.S. Need Biden’s Clean Energy Industrial Policy to Compete with China?” In the article, he critiques industrial policy, particularly in President Biden’s American Jobs Plan. According to DiFrancesco, the economic consequences of “copying China’s playbook,” despite the fact that China has become the largest producer of wind and solar energy in the world with this playbook, are too large for the American Jobs Plan to be worthwhile. Unlike the research fellows at the Mercatus Center, DiFrancesco does offer an alternative solution: an apparently controversial idea of a carbon tax, though paired with “regulatory reform and an increased international R&D effort to fund technologies.”
Outreach:
The Mercatus Center publishes articles on its website from its senior research fellows, research fellows, professors, and graduate students. Additionally, the Mercatus Center also hosts The Bridge, their policy review section, and Discourse, “a new magazine for turbulent times.” Discourse is the Mercatus Center’s “online journal of politics, economics, and culture…dedicated first and foremost to discourse.” Recent articles include “Biden’s Infrastructure Package Is a Bridge Too Far,” “Executive Orders Aren’t Always the Best Tool,” and “Trust the Insiders.”
The Mercatus Center also hosts a podcast through the Bridge, called the F.A. Hayek Program Podcast. Recent podcast topics include tensions in political economy, macroeconomics, and academia and libertarianism.
The Mercatus Center has 32.9K followers on Twitter and 17.8K subscribers on YouTube, where they host shows such as “Conversations with Tyler,” where Tyler Cowen interviews “underrated thinkers,” and “Ask Us Anything: Adam Smith.
The Mercatus Center hosts and sponsors various events, such as lectures from visiting professors, interviews, and discussions. Past events include a lecture with Dr. Bruce Yandle from Clemson University called “Getting Warmer: Addressing Climate Change and Environmental Policy,” in which he criticized any future response to climate change.
Funding:
The Mercatus Center is 100% privately funded, largely by individual donations. The Mercatus Center has also received $9,285,500 from Koch Foundations from 1997 to 2012. Charles Koch is a board member emeritus of the Mercatus Center. David Koch was a board member before his death.
In 2014 alone, the Mercatus Center received $25,000 in donations from ExxonMobil, and received $260,000 from 2007 to 2014.
See also:
Koch Foundations
Climate of Denial