CFAs: Exploring Complex Solutions for a Complex World Fellowship

This program is part of the Don Lavoie Fellowship.

About Fellowship

• Exploring Complex Solutions Fellows attend a series of online activities, including an online discussion portal and online reading discussion sessions led by various Hayek Program scholars that introduce them to the complexity of the world around them, the challenges of planning, and the importance of trade-offs. Fellows will join a network of Mercatus students, alumni, faculty, and scholars who are conducting and engaging with cutting edge research in contemporary political economy.
• Each cohort participating in this online program will participate during one semester of the academic year. Each participant will receive copies of the books to be discussed, which may include Applied Mainline Economics by Matthew D. Mitchell and Peter J. Boettke; Do Markets Corrupt the Morals? by Virgil Henry Storr and Ginny Seung Choi; Community Revival in the Wake of Disaster by Virgil Henry Storr, Stefanie Haeffele, and Laura E. Grube; Doing Bad by Doing Good by Christopher J. Coyne; and National Economic Planning by Don Lavoie.
• Those selected to participate in the fellowship can expect to directly interact with Mercatus Center scholars who hold doctoral degrees in economics political science, and sociology, read approximately 100-page selections from each of the 4 books assigned, and to spend roughly 2 hours of time each week participating in asynchronous, online discussions with other high school students and Mercatus Scholars on the reading selections and supplemental materials.
• Participants will gain experience thinking critically about key issues and participating in discussions with others from a variety of backgrounds. This experience will help prepare students for college and provide an opportunity to receive academic advice from scholars and staff.
• Successful fellows dedicate 2-3 hours each week to their participation in Exploring Complex Solutions. It is true, however, that you will get out of this experience what you put into it.

Funding Information

• The total award of up to $750 includes:
  • A stipend
  • All required readings for online events
  • Advice on research, college, and career

Fellowship Activities

• The fellowship will focus on two major activities:
  • Online reading group sessions: Fellows will meet virtually four times throughout the semester in organized reading groups to discuss books written by Hayek Program Scholars. All online reading group sessions will be held outside of regular high school attendance hours.
  • Online discusion portal: The main discussion forum will include videos, podcast episodes, and readings on the key ideas of the complexity of the world around us, the problems of planning, and the importance of trade-offs and prompts for written discussion.

Eligibility Criteria

• Any student of any nationality enrolled at any high school, in the US or abroad, and is at least 16 years old at the start of programming is eligible to apply for the Exploring Complex Solutions for a Complex World Fellowship. The program will be conducted entirely online.

For more information, visit Mercatus Center at George Mason University.