Benjamin Klutsey

Ben Klutsey believes in the transformative power of classical liberal ideas—in their ability to deliver a more free, peaceful, and prosperous society for all. As the executive director of the Mercatus Center, this conviction guides his leadership and has shaped his dozen years with the organization. He also understands that lasting change requires equipping the next generation of changemakers to advance these ideas.

His belief in these ideas led him to create the Mercatus Pluralism and Civil Exchange Program to teach students and others how dialogue across differences is a core classical liberal value. This theme was central to the documentary, Undivide Us, in which he starred. It’s why he built a network of more than 180 aligned university-based research centers across the country, developing talent and sharing knowledge. And it’s why he led a team dedicated to supporting scholars applying market-oriented ideas to financial regulations and monetary policy.

Ben and his wife and their four children live in Germantown, Maryland. He holds a BA in Government from Lawrence University and an MA in International Commerce and Policy from George Mason University. That’s where his appreciation for the potential of free markets and free peoples deepened. But it didn’t begin there. As a teenager growing up in Ghana, West Africa, Ben saw firsthand how liberty empowers people to improve their lives. He saw too what happens when liberty is denied.

More about Ben’s story 

“Don’t talk politics outside these four walls.” That’s what Ben’s father told him and his siblings to remember whenever they left the house. Not because it was impolite to talk about politics but because it was dangerous. His father experienced harassment and intimidation by the authorities as well as seize his business assets. And he knew that any expression of dissent against the authoritarian regime that ran Ghana at the time risked landing him in jail.

But Ben also witnessed something else that left an enduring impression on him. Though his father had grown up poor, his entrepreneurship and perseverance ultimately lifted him and his family out of poverty. So from an early age Ben began to see how economic opportunity and individual freedom were essential to human flourishing.

Eventually, market reform ideas came to Ghana. They were able to liberate the economy by privatizing industries and making structural adjustments. That led to increased productivity and growing prosperity. And now Ghana is known as one of the more dynamic and market-friendly economies in West Africa.

As Ben understands, embracing classical liberal ideas allows economies, communities, and individuals to thrive, whether in Ghana in the 1990s or the United States today. Under his leadership, Mercatus is identifying and nurturing the next generation of freedom-minded changemakers. These men and women are the scholars, thinkers, and doers who will champion life-changing, society-improving classical liberal ideas for years to come.