As you might expect, the start of the school year is always a busy time at Mercatus. We welcome grads and undergrads back to our campuses at George Mason, our student fellowship programs start back up, and many of our scholars resume teaching. And beyond our offices, thousands of high school students around the country are starting econ or personal finance classes that are supported by resources from Marginal Revolution University, or MRU.

MRU started in 2012 as an online platform to provide anyone with access to free, quality economics education. Created by Mercatus’ faculty director Tyler Cowen and Senior Research Fellow Alex Tabarrok, MRU initially offered short video lessons in various courses, like micro, macro, and econometrics.

Over the years, we heard more and more from high school teachers, looking for resources that would help students connect with economics. To meet this demand, we focused on increasing our content and lesson plans aimed at high schoolers. We brought on top academics like Nobel Prize-winning economist Josh Angrist to create new lessons, and partnered with organizations like the St. Louis Fed to help more teachers discover MRU. As a result, MRU now offers 48 lesson plans across 11 units, and is utilized in over 4,600 high schools nationwide.

Earlier this year, I wrote about how my own experience with high school econ started me down a path that led me to build a career that I love here at Mercatus. MRU’s work has always meant a lot to me because of that connection. This year, MRU held its first-ever sticker design contest for students to submit ideas for econ-themed stickers. I was blown away to learn we received over 250 entries from students who were interested in engaging with economics even outside of the classroom.

I can’t wait to hear the stories from this year, as more students than ever before get to learn about economics from teachers who feel equipped to teach it. If you want to follow along, or maybe check out some of the courses for yourself, subscribe to MRU’s YouTube channel. And if you’re a teacher and want to use MRU materials with your students, send me an email and I’ll connect you with the team.