Each summer, Mercatus hosts a group of interns who are curious, driven, and eager to contribute. We don’t ask them to fetch coffee; we ask them to think, write, research, debate, and build. And this year’s intern class did exactly that.
Over nine weeks, our interns were immersed in the world of applied political economy. Monday workshops covered everything from career paths in policy to how to speak across ideological lines. Throughout the week, they attended reading groups and lectures focused on three key traditions: Virginia Political Economy (led by Rosolino Candela), Bloomington Political Economy (Jayme Lemke), and Classical Liberalism (Virgil Storr). They also heard from leaders across Mercatus and like-minded institutions, including Emily Chamlee-Wright, Iain Murray, Tyler Cowen, and Tim Carney, and visited organizations such as Reason, Cato, and Stand Together.
What made this summer particularly impressive was how many of our interns began publishing their work:
Cameron Ewine made his debut at The Unseen and The Unsaid with a piece comparing subsidies to sports to show how government interference skews the economic playing field.
Elias Freire launched a Substack, The Deciding Factor, and has published three essays so far.
By the end of the program, each intern presented their work which ranged from regulatory reform to AI governance to housing policy. One intern described the experience as a “catalyst for personal and professional growth,” while another said Mercatus is a place “where disagreement is welcomed with respect and open inquiry is the norm.”
This is exactly our goal. We don’t tell our interns what to think; we want them to learn how to think. Ideas have to be challenged, examined, and debated.
We’re proud of this class. We’ll be rooting for them wherever they go, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see some of them return.
Ben Brophy Director of Marketing
Mercatus Center at George Mason University
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