Big change starts with small bets and the courage to make them.
We believe in the power of great ideas and great talent. That’s the premise behind Emergent Ventures, Tyler Cowen’s fast-moving grant program to identify and support talented individuals with extraordinary potential.
Since its launch in 2018, Emergent Ventures has awarded grants to hundreds of recipients across the globe, including entrepreneurs, scholars, scientists, educators, and creators, often before anyone else saw what they could do. The model is simple but radical: minimal bureaucracy, maximum trust, and a belief that great ideas can emerge from anywhere. That philosophy runs through everything Emergent Ventures does, from funding life-saving research to accelerating educational reform to seeding entirely new organizations.
This week, Tyler announced the 12th cohort of Emergent Ventures India, a program led by Shruti Rajagopalan that continues to surface some of the country’s most dynamic thinkers and builders. The new cohort includes innovators tackling challenges in AI safety, public health, governance, and education. These are fields where small bets can yield extraordinary returns.
Programs like this remind us why Mercatus exists: to identify promising people and ideas, and to move quickly to support them, in the pursuit of a freer, more prosperous, and more humane world.
Ben Brophy Vice President, Strategic Engagement
Mercatus Center at George Mason University
Topics & Issues
David Beckworth explores the trilemma between dollar dominance, financial stability, and a small Federal Reserve, and what stablecoins have to do with it.
Charles Blahous reminds us that Social Security is running out of time and money. But he also gives us a guide on reforming the program. We like solutions. Age adjustments, targeted slowing of benefit growth, and new revenue are workable, practical solutions.
The Value Added Tax, which we see so often in Europe, is being considered by some here in the US. Jack Salmon encourages us to not be like France. Good advice.
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