# Mercatus Center

> The Mercatus Center at George Mason University is the world's premier university source for
> market-oriented ideas, bridging the gap between academic ideas and real-world problems.

This file orients AI agents and LLMs on how to use mercatus.org.

## Core content

- [Home](https://www.mercatus.org/): mission and featured research.
- [Research](https://www.mercatus.org/research): publications, working papers, and policy briefs.
- [About](https://www.mercatus.org/about-mercatus): who we are, our history, and leadership.
- [Scholars](https://www.mercatus.org/scholars): researchers, scholars, and staff directory.
- [Events](https://www.mercatus.org/events): upcoming and past events.
- [Contact](https://www.mercatus.org/contact): departments, phone, and email contacts.

## Machine-readable access

- Sitemap: [https://www.mercatus.org/sitemap.xml](https://www.mercatus.org/sitemap.xml) (XML sitemap index with lastmod).
- Markdown: send `Accept: text/markdown` on any page to receive a Markdown representation.
- Agent mode: append `?mode=agent` to the homepage for a structured JSON capability view.
- API catalog: [https://www.mercatus.org/.well-known/api-catalog](https://www.mercatus.org/.well-known/api-catalog) (RFC 9727).
- Bot signing keys: [https://www.mercatus.org/.well-known/http-message-signatures-directory](https://www.mercatus.org/.well-known/http-message-signatures-directory).

## Rules of engagement

- Crawl politely: honor `Crawl-delay: 10` from robots.txt.
- Identify yourself with a truthful User-Agent.
- robots.txt Content-Signals: `ai-input` is allowed for OpenAI crawlers (GPTBot, ChatGPT-User, OAI-SearchBot); `ai-train=no` for all others unless granted.

## Contact

Mercatus Center at George Mason University
3434 Washington Blvd., 4th Floor, Arlington, VA 22201, USA
Phone: +1 (703) 993-4930 | Email: support@mercatus.org