I am thrilled to announce that today Larry White has agreed to join the faculty at George Mason University and will be teaching here starting in Fall 2009. This is a huge hire for GMU. As everyone knows, Larry has an international reputation as the leading scholar (along with George Selgin) on alternative monetary systems. With the financial crisis as our backdrop, hard to imagine a better time to be working on that topic. Larry will have scores of eager minds wanting to join him in this inquiry at GMU.
Next academic year, we will also have visiting with us Steve Horwitz (on and off through the year) and Mario Rizzo (teaching spring term). While Pete Leeson will be away for the year as a Visiting Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago (and Fellow in the Becker Center) and he will no doubt be deeply and sorely missed (by our students and me), the students will have the great opportunity to work with White, Horwitz and Rizzo, as well as Dick Wagner, Dan Klein, Virgil Storr, Frederic Sautet and myself. How cool is that for a graduate student interested in Austrian economics and classical liberal political economy?!
Professionally, there are 3 moments in my career that have been "peak experiences" in terms of excitement of what might come to pass with respect to advancing Austrian economics within the economics profession --- the day I got (and agreed to) the offer to join the faculty at NYU, the day Pete Leeson agreed to join the faculty at GMU, and today as Larry has agreed to join us in our efforts here to build something unique and great in terms of economic research and graduate education. The first two far exceeded even my wildest expectations, and I have little doubt that the same will be said about this third moment.
Welcome on board Larry.
No way! This is fantastic news! What class is he going to be teaching?
Posted by: Adam | June 08, 2009 at 01:54 PM
Wow, this is huge. Great news for all the grad students.
Posted by: geoffrey | June 08, 2009 at 02:18 PM
"the day Pete Leeson agreed to join the faculty at GMU."
Alright Dr. Boettke, we get it.
Posted by: curt | June 08, 2009 at 02:43 PM
Hooray!
Posted by: Michael | June 08, 2009 at 02:46 PM
This is outstanding news!
Posted by: David Skarbek | June 08, 2009 at 03:05 PM
Great news. Congratulations to GMU and to Larry White.
Posted by: Mario Rizzo | June 08, 2009 at 03:13 PM
Wonderful! This is big news. Congratulations are indeed due to Larry and GMU alike.
Posted by: Roger Koppl | June 08, 2009 at 03:47 PM
What a lineup! Congratulations! Please try to convince Professor White to start blogging on this site - there isn't much action over at his current blogging home!
Posted by: Chris Braun | June 08, 2009 at 04:10 PM
Wow this is amazing news for GMU students!
Posted by: Najiba | June 08, 2009 at 04:23 PM
As a prospective student in GWU's Austrian Econ Phd program, I find this is very exciting indeed. I can't wait to get started in this program next year.
Posted by: Scott Hepburn | June 08, 2009 at 04:39 PM
Amazing ! GMU is really going to a new step.
Posted by: Claudio Shikida | June 08, 2009 at 10:09 PM
Incredible! Simply incredible!
Posted by: king mises | June 08, 2009 at 10:46 PM
As someone who is a marginal prospective student (in the sense of not sure whether to continue graduate education or where to do so), this definitely makes me more interested in GMU.
Posted by: John Hall | June 09, 2009 at 12:19 AM
Now a question.
Prof.Klein has written - in EconWatch Journal if I am not wrong - about the impact of GMU on internet. A vibrant presence on the WEb (ok) with several blogs (overcoming bias, this one, Profs Kling and Caplan, marginal revolution etc)...but here is the paradox: the homepage of the GMU Econ department is not always updated. working papers'section, for example, is not a good mirror of the scientific production of GMU. Several links don't work (try to find the econ of religion's Iannacconne links, some of them don't work), etc.
Do we have a paradox here?
Posted by: Claudio Shikida | June 09, 2009 at 07:53 AM
Now a question.
Prof.Klein has written - in EconWatch Journal if I am not wrong - about the impact of GMU on internet. A vibrant presence on the WEb (ok) with several blogs (overcoming bias, this one, Profs Kling and Caplan, marginal revolution etc)...but here is the paradox: the homepage of the GMU Econ department is not always updated. working papers'section, for example, is not a good mirror of the scientific production of GMU. Several links don't work (try to find the econ of religion's Iannacconne links, some of them don't work), etc.
Do we have a paradox here?
Posted by: Claudio Shikida | June 09, 2009 at 07:53 AM
Claudio,
Different management of the sites so the incentives are different. Go to individual websites, e.g., Roger Congleton's, and you will see a very easy to navigate website.
Also, it depends on what different scholars want to emphasize in their work. Some push their books, some push their essays, and others push their research in journals. But we don't really have any "dead-wood" at GMU, I'd say 95% or higher of the faculty are actively engaged in research that gets published every year, year after year.
So my suggestion, do not go to department web site, in fact, the working paper series in the department is probably a decade old. Go instead to individual websites and perhaps the Mercatus website (though that captures more policy relevant research).
And by the way there is always EconLit and SSRN, etc. That would give you a good list of current activity.
Just in the past few years, several faculty have published in AER, JPE, EJ, JLE, JLS, etc. and books with Princeton, Cambridge, etc. We have also had students publish in the AER and even in Nature.
This is why I get bothered sometimes by all the talk about our blogging because many assume it means that people are no longer publishing research in the journals. Different faculty members have different focus, but the department still holds its faculty to the conventional standards of journal publishing. We do have a broader conception of research activity than say NYU had (has), but at the end of the day we are judged by the same standard of publishing in the top journals in the field. Take a look at the CV of Thomas Stratmann, or Dan Houser.
So I would argue that the reason GMU does so well on the Klein's score (and others) of web presence is because we have a broader conception of our role as TEACHERS of economics. We teach not just our students in the classroom, but also are actively engaged with the public and seek public forums. But our teaching is a complement, not a substitute, for our research on economic and political economy questions. GMU at its best moments is the best weird place in the world for economic research and graduate education. At its worst, the place reverts to the mean and we become like any other program near the Potomac. There is a constant battle in university and department life to fight "mean reversion". But when you "dare to be different" and you strive for excellence on the relevant margins, you can fight that.
In recent years we made an effort to establish a first-rate program in economic history with the hiring of John Nye and others. We also attempted to build in the economics of religion. We are obviously strong in public choice and law and economics. And we also are one of the better places to study the history of economic thought.
The hiring of Larry solves many issues and fights against mean reversion --- we build in money/macro, we build in Austrian, and we build in both economic history and history of thought.
We also just recently hired two new experimentalists to work at ICES with Dan Houser, and we are still in the market for another chair or two in political economy.
GMU -- best weird place in the world to study economics.
Posted by: Peter Boettke | June 09, 2009 at 08:30 AM
Maybe Larry can help Pete refine his taste in music. By refine I mean improve.
Posted by: Daniel J. D'Amico | June 09, 2009 at 09:27 AM
Congratulations, Larry! And congratulations, GMU!
Posted by: Sheldon Richman | June 09, 2009 at 09:51 AM
Thanks, Prof. Boettke, for the detailed answer. I had been doing exactly this: checking individual webpages. But I would like to see a more efficient webpage for the department.
Amazing team with prof. White! Congratulations!
Posted by: Claudio Shikida | June 09, 2009 at 01:38 PM
Fantastic news!
Posted by: Sandy Ikeda | June 09, 2009 at 04:24 PM
That's a great announcement, Pete. If you don't mind, I'd like to quibble:
"The first two far exceeded even my wildest expectations, and I have little doubt that the same will be said about this third moment."
Are you saying you currently forecast that your current forecast is too low? Is that allowed?
Posted by: Bob Murphy | June 09, 2009 at 09:25 PM
@Bob Murphy
I think he's saying that his expectations are cranked all the way to 10, but that the moment may go to 11.
Posted by: Chris Braun | June 10, 2009 at 01:35 AM
Welcome, Larry!
Posted by: Eli | June 10, 2009 at 04:47 PM
I am sorry I did not see this before. This is fantastic news!! Happy for Larry and for GMU.
Posted by: Peter Lewin | August 05, 2009 at 10:20 PM