George W. Bush Institute-SMU Economic Growth Initiative

In June 2018, SMU and the George W. Bush Presidential Center launched the Bush Institute-SMU Economic Growth Initiative. The Initiative combines the public policy expertise of the Bush Institute and the academic economic expertise of the SMU Department of Economics. The Initiative produces a strong policy voice on the pressing economic issues of our time and advances policies that promote economic growth and strengthen our competitiveness in the global economy.

As part of this partnership between the Bush Institute and the Department of Economics, the Initiative hosts a Visiting Fellows Program that brings highly accomplished academic economists engaged in policy-relevant research to visit the Initiative. Outside this program, prominent non-academic guests have included Robert Zoellick, former Deputy Secretary of State and World Bank President, and Douglas Holtz-Eakin, former head of the Congressional Budget Office and chief economic advisor to John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign.

The Initiative also funds Ph.D. Fellowships to attract and support world class scholars as Ph.D. students in the Department of Economics.