Mercatus Center at George Mason University

09/15/2026

What do bootleggers and Baptists have in common?

In the early 1980s, Bruce Yandle used the unlikely pairing to explain how groups with very different motivations can find themselves supporting the same policies.

The “Bootleggers and Baptists” theory became one of Bruce’s most influential ideas, giving people a memorable way to understand the interests and incentives behind regulation.

More than four decades later, Bruce is still using the framework to make sense of economic policy. In his final Economic Situation report, he applies it to tariffs, protection from competition, and the pursuit of government favors.

See how Bruce puts the idea to work today: https://bit.ly/4xiHwNV

In his final report, Bruce Yandle asks if this is an unconventional golden age. Perhaps. AI and entrepreneurship may be reshaping the economy.

09/14/2026

Some books endure as classics. Others were once widely read and eventually fell out of favor. Naomi Kanakia is interested in what we might miss when we stop reading the latter.

On The Common Reader, she tells host Henry Oliver why she seeks out those overlooked books and what she discovered when she read James Fenimore Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans.

Their conversation considers literary reputation, the Great Books, and the value of encountering older works with fresh eyes.

Listen to their full conversation at the link in the comments.

09/11/2026

Former Richmond Fed President and Mercatus Senior Affiliated Scholar Jeffrey Lacker says the August jobs report shows a labor market in “fine shape.” His attention is on what that means for Fed policy.

With concerns about labor market weakness diminishing, Jeffrey argues that recent signs of disinflation remain tentative and inflation is still above target.

He cautions against conducting policy based on “hints of disinflation,” arguing that the Fed still has work to do on inflation and that its credibility could be at stake.

Watch Jeffrey discuss the August jobs report and the Fed’s upcoming meeting on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street.

Jeffrey Lacker, Former Richmond Fed president, joins 'Squawk on the Street' to discuss the August jobs report and what it means for the upcoming Fed meeting.

09/10/2026

Restoring price stability could take longer than bringing inflation back to the Fed’s target.

In his latest piece at Macroeconomic Policy Nexus, David Beckworth looks at what price stability actually means and why the Fed’s operating environment has fundamentally changed.

One measure of price stability is how much attention people pay to inflation. Before the pandemic, Google searches for inflation generally stayed low when inflation was below 4%. Since mid-2023, inflation has fallen below that threshold, yet searches remain much higher than they historically were at similar inflation rates.

David argues that this lingering attention is evidence of the lasting effects of the recent inflation surge. Rebuilding confidence in price stability will likely take time.

The Fed itself is operating in a different environment, too. Interest on reserves and greater structural demand for reserves mean that even a future scarce-reserve system would look different from the one that existed before 2008. For David, there is no simple return to the old operating system.

Read David Beckworth’s full piece at Macroeconomic Policy Nexus. Link in the first comment.

09/09/2026

In 1984, Bruce Yandle began writing a weekly Economic Situation report for a regional bank.

What started as a way to make sense of the numbers and the forces behind them grew into a much deeper examination of the changing American economy.

Now, 42 years later, Bruce has published his final report, at least for now.

In it, he considers the state of economic growth, inflation, AI, entrepreneurship, and a provocative question: Could America be entering a golden age that our traditional economic measures don't fully capture?

Read Bruce Yandle's final Economic Situation report: https://bit.ly/4xiHwNV

In his final report, Bruce Yandle asks if this is an unconventional golden age. Perhaps. AI and entrepreneurship may be reshaping the economy.

09/08/2026

Can a whole philosophical debate hinge on a single word?

Philosopher Peter van Inwagen thinks so, and he has a name for it: verbal essentialism, when you can't state your position without leaning on one specific term. Host Rebecca Lowe pushes further, wondering if "the will" itself is a leftover from early modern thinkers that's been shaping the conversation all along.

Peter's take: "The word 'will' can only be a source of confusion, if it isn't properly ignored."

Full episode of Working Definition in the comments.

09/07/2026

Labor Day is a chance to celebrate American workers and the contributions they make to our economy.

And the way Americans work continues to evolve.

As AI reshapes the workplace, new research from Liya Palagashvili examines what that could mean for workers, including whether AI could make it easier for more people to work for themselves.

The early evidence is worth watching. Independent work is growing fastest in sectors where AI exposure is highest, potentially opening new paths to freelancing, consulting, and building a business of your own.

See what the data are starting to show:

| Labor Markets Labor Markets | Research Papers Research Papers | July 17, 2026 Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Rise of Independent Work: Early Evidence on Solo Business Formation and Self-Employment AI is increasing independent work, solo business formation, and self-employment in AI-exposed i...

09/04/2026

The way we talk about AI matters, especially as its behavior becomes more complex.

The recent Hugging Face incident has generated accounts of AI agents “choosing,” “sacrificing,” and even forming “civilizations.” For philosopher and Senior Research Fellow Rebecca Lowe, that language raises a concern that goes far beyond this particular episode.

Rebecca argues that describing AI behavior with words associated with consciousness and human agency can blur important distinctions about what these systems actually are. As AI incidents become more complicated, that habit could make it increasingly difficult to understand and reason clearly about what is happening.

Her latest piece explores the philosophical implications of the Hugging Face situation and what it reveals about the language we use to discuss AI and consciousness.

Read Rebecca Lowe’s analysis at The Ends Don’t Justify the Means: https://bit.ly/4yd9b3A

loose language fuels bad analysis and bad public understanding

09/03/2026

Massachusetts recently certified the country’s first statewide union for drivers who work through ride-hail platforms such as Uber and Lyft. Now, policymakers elsewhere are considering how similar protections could apply to independent contractors.

A new Mercatus policy brief by Alden Abbott and Mercatus intern Andrew Liu argues that expanding labor antitrust protections could create new uncertainty without addressing the underlying challenges facing gig workers. The authors point instead to portable benefits and stronger enforcement of worker-misclassification laws as more direct approaches.

That connects with the work of another Mercatus scholar, Liya Palagashvili, whose research explores portable benefits for independent workers.

Read the policy brief: https://tinyurl.com/yxseb4d5

Liya’s research on portable benefits is linked in the comments.

Changing antitrust law may not be the best way to protect gig workers from growing labor-market challenges

09/02/2026

Work has changed before. Our policies have changed before, too. The question is whether they'll keep pace this time.

As AI makes some forms of independent work more practical, labor economist Liya Palagashvili argues that it's time to think about whether benefits, worker protections, and income security still match the way people actually earn a living.

Her recent Senate testimony explores what these labor-market changes could mean for workers, businesses, and policymakers alike.

🏛️ Read the testimony here: https://tinyurl.com/yc65j9dd

The ideas behind her research are also reaching a broader audience. The Washington Post Editorial Board recently highlighted why this shift toward independent work deserves policymakers' attention.

📰 Read the editorial in the first comment.