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Brian Hooks

Biography

Brian Hooks is the chief operating officer for the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He oversees research and educational outreach programs and operations for the organization. 

Prior to assuming this role, Mr. Hooks served as the director of the Global Prosperity Initiative and Social Change Project at Mercatus. He helped to develop these programs that focus on building an academic network to apply the latest insights from the social sciences to problems of economic development and social progress both in the U.S. and overseas. Mr. Hooks has also worked with policy makers in executive agencies and Congress to bring the ideas developed at Mercatus to bear on U.S. policy. 

Mr. Hooks also leads Enterprise Africa!, a joint project of Mercatus, the Free Market Foundation of Southern Africa, and the Institute of Economic Affairs. Enterprise Africa! documents enterprise-based solutions to poverty on the African continent and brings knowledge about what works at a local level to decisions concerning international policy. 

Articles, Commentary, and Publications

• Keep it Simple
• The Challenge Ahead: Maintaining a Focus on Incentives to Enable Development
• Outside View: Betting on the Band-Aid?
• The Millennium Challenge Account: Property Rights and Entrepreneurship as the Engine of Development