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Carrie Conko
Director of Communications
Mercatus Center at George Mason University
Office: 703-993-4899
Email: cconko@gmu.edu

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Chief of Staff Retreat

As our longest-running program, the Mercatus Center’s annual Chief of Staff Retreat is the leading non-partisan, off-the-Hill gathering for senior congressional staff. The Retreat offers participants a chance to explore pioneering economic ideas, focus on key legislative matters, and interact across party lines in a comfortable and educational setting away from Capitol Hill.

With discussions ranging from general economic concepts to more specific policy concerns, the Retreat is the perfect way for staff to step back from the world of politics, enhance their policy knowledge, and consult with a wide assortment of academics and practitioners.

WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT?

Stimulating Discussions with leading faculty in economics and public policy, in both formal and informal settings.
Networking Opportunities with over 125 of your senior Hill colleagues, from both chambers, both parties, and a wide range of committee and leadership offices.
Engaging Formats including lectures, roundtables, and market experiments, that will offer you "big picture" ideas as well as practical tools.

WHAT WILL YOU LEAVE WITH?

Analytical Frameworks for evaluating competing policy proposals, and their "unseen" consequences, in a wide range of legislative areas.
New Contacts, in leveraged positions on Capitol Hill, in the Administration, and in academia, who can help you in your work.
Enhanced Understanding of how markets work in the dynamic real-world, not how abstract models idealize them to be.
Fresh Ideas for utilizing incentives, feedback loops, and other market process concepts to create win-win legislative approaches.

To learn more about our annual retreat, please review our Frequently Asked Questions.

Click below to learn about past Retreats:

The Mercatus Center at George Mason University bridges the worlds of academia and government by transforming scholarly insights about markets into tools for effective policymaking. The Center's Capitol Hill Campus brings these ideas directly to Congressional staff, through the Chief of Staff Retreat as well as courses, seminars, and roundtable discussions.