The welfare state and the regulatory state are two policy areas that rarely elicit converging positions, but is it possible to find an economist who defies this pattern? In the January 2015 issue of Econ Journal Watch, Chief Editor Daniel Klein has prompted contributors and scholars to consider why so few economists argue in favor of one and against the other, and whether they can think of some economists who have done so.

Please join Daniel Klein at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University for a panel discussion on the symposium, “Economists on the Welfare State and the Regulatory State: Why Don’t Any Argue in Favor of One and Against the Other?” (Econ Journal Watch, Volume 12, Issue 1, January 2015).

We will be pleased to hear from panel chair Daniel Klein, and commenters Donald Boudreaux, Scott Sumner, and Jeremy Rabkin.

For any further questions, please contact Bethany Stalter at bstalter@mercatus.gmu.edu or (703) 993-4889.

Daniel Klein is Professor of Economics and JIN Chair at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He is also the chief editor of Econ Journal Watch and the leader of the Adam Smith Program among others at George Mason University. He has published research on a number of issues including spontaneous order, credit reporting, the FDA, government intervention and policy, and the relationship between liberty, dignity, and responsibility.

Donald Boudreaux is Professor of Economics, Martha and Nelson Getchell Chair for the Study of Free Market Capitalism, and Senior Fellow with the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He specializes in globalization, trade, law and economics, and antitrust economics. He regularly posts on www.cafehayek.com and has recently published a book with the Fraser Institute titled The Essential Hayek.

Scott Sumner is Professor of Economics at Bentley University and the Ralph G. Hawtrey Chair and Program Director of Monetary Policy at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He specializes in monetary policy, the role of the international gold market in the Great Depression, and the history of macroeconomic thought. In addition to regularly posting on www.themoneyillusion.com, he has been published in journals such as the Journal of Political Economy, Economic Inquiry, and the Journal of Money, Credit and Banking.

Jeremy Rabkin is Professor of Law at George Mason University. He is also currently on the Board of Directors for the United States Institute of Peace and the Center for Individual Rights, and the Board of Academic Advisors for the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy and American Enterprise Institute. Prior to joining George Mason University, he was a professor in the Department of Government at Cornell University from 1980 – 2007 and a visiting professor in the Department of Government at Harvard University in 1993.