Private Enterprise Research Center

What Private Enterprise Research Center does

PERC is an academic policy research center housed at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, operating since 1977. It conducts research and publishes analysis on macroeconomic policy, fiscal policy, Social Security and Medicare entitlement programs, income inequality, Federal Reserve policy, educational policy, and charitable giving, applying applied welfare economics as its core analytical framework to evaluate how public policies affect individual and social welfare through utility, income, and consumption measures. The center supports three endowed professorships (Jordan, Free Enterprise, and Lynch Fellow), four Faculty Research Fellows, six Ph.D. dissertation fellows (2025-2026 cohort), and a core staff of seven including Director Dr. Dennis Jansen. Its products consist of two publications (PERCspectives on Policy and PERCspectives on Research), the PERC Blog, the Kirby Distinguished Visiting Professorship (hosting Nobel laureates such as Thomas Sargent and James Buchanan), the annual PERC Policy Bootcamp, endowed student fellowships and scholarships, and a monthly Economic Indicators report for the College Station-Bryan MSA.

The center's analytical methodology relies on partial and general equilibrium models, risk analysis, cost-benefit analysis, incidence and distributional analysis, and econometric estimation of welfare parameters, as executed by a Research Specialist II (Somali Ghosh Sinha) with a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics. Research outputs are distributed via the Texas A&M OakTrust repository, direct stakeholder mailing, regional media contributions, and in-person programs on campus. PERC's intellectual positioning explicitly emphasizes free markets and private-sector solutions to public policy problems, distinguishing it from non-ideologically aligned academic centers.

PERC operates as a non-commercial university research center rather than a revenue-generating enterprise. Its funding derives entirely from donor-established endowments (Jordan Professorship, Lynch Fellowship, Kirby Professorship, Daniel/Webber/Grove Scholarships) and annual donations routed through the Texas A&M Foundation. It charges no fees for publications or blog content, and the Policy Bootcamp operates as a standard 3-credit-hour university mini-mester course. Its GTM motion is community-led: it reaches policymakers, journalists, and community leaders through publications, public seminars, the Kirby speaker series, media commentary, and engagement with the Brazos Valley Economic Development Corporation and Bryan-College Station Chamber of Commerce.

Name

Private Enterprise Research Center

Legal name

Private Enterprise Research Center

Website

https://perc.tamu.edu

Company type

Private

Founded year

1988

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Private Enterprise Research Center is a Texas A&M University policy research center founded in 1977 that conducts free-market-oriented economic analysis on fiscal, monetary, entitlement, and education policy, serving policymakers, journalists, graduate students, and local community leaders through publications, fellowships, and educational programs.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Economic Policy Research

NAICS

Scientific Research and Development Services (5417), Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services (54169)

akta.pro primary industry

Policy, Regulatory & Public Affairs Research (BPAHALAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Public Research Universities with Academic Medical Centers (AMCs) (EDAHAAAC), Conference Proceedings & Research Reports Publishing (EDAGAFAL)

Keywords

• Economic policy research
• Applied welfare economics
• Policy analysis
• Academic research center
• Free market research

Headquarters

HQ city

College Station

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Endowed Professorships and Fellowships: Funding from donors who established initial endowments that provide ongoing funding for professorship positions, fellowships, scholarships, and annual activities. Donors include those funding the Mary Julia and George R. Jordan, Jr. Professorship, Shirley A. Lynch Fellowship, Kirby Distinguished Visiting Professorship, and various student scholarships (E. Ralph Daniel Scholar, M.H. Webber Scholar, M.J. Grove Scholar).
2. Annual Donor Support: Generous support from a variety of donors and foundations who provide annual resources for research activities, student support, and operational expenses. Donations accepted through Texas A&M Foundation.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

The Private Enterprise Research Center (PERC) is an academic research center within Texas A&M University that conducts applied welfare economics research and produces policy analysis emphasizing free markets and private sector solutions to public policy problems. The center supports endowed professorships, hosts the Kirby Distinguished Visiting Professorship, runs graduate student fellowships, publishes the PERCspectives on Policy and PERCspectives on Research periodicals, maintains a policy blog, and offers the annual PERC Policy Bootcamp course as well as a monthly Economic Indicators report for the College Station-Bryan MSA.

Product overview

The Private Enterprise Research Center (PERC) is a policy research center at Texas A&M University that operates as a unified research and academic support organization rather than a commercial product company. Its offerings include two flagship publications (PERCspectives on Policy and PERCspectives on Research), the PERC Blog for policy commentary, the Kirby Distinguished Visiting Professorship bringing international scholars, graduate fellowships and scholarships for Ph.D. students, the annual PERC Policy Bootcamp educational program, endowed professorships supporting faculty researchers, and the monthly Economic Indicators report. These products work together to advance free market ideas and provide policy analysis to Texas A&M, the state of Texas, and the nation.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• PERCspectives on Policy A nationally circulated publication providing policy recommendations to community leaders, journalists, and policymakers, covering pressing public policy matters through the lens of free markets and private sector solutions.
• PERCspectives on Research A publication highlighting selected working papers from the PERC academic community, featuring research in economics and business published in leading academic journals.
• PERC Policy Bootcamp A weeklong, 3-credit hour mini-mester course teaching applied welfare economics for analyzing and evaluating public policies, covering topics including tariffs, pensions, health care, and emissions trading; offered to undergraduate and select graduate students.
• Kirby Distinguished Visiting Professorship An academic program established in 1988 that brings internationally recognized scholars (including Nobel laureates) to Texas A&M University to interact with faculty and students, with featured speakers such as Thomas Sargent, James Buchanan, and John Cochrane.
• Economic Indicators of the College Station-Bryan MSA A monthly report providing economic indicators for the College Station-Bryan metropolitan statistical area, used by local business organizations and economic development entities.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 125 working papers in leading academic journals including American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy, and Journal of Econometrics
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Emerging players

• Tax Foundation: Nonpartisan tax policy research organization producing analysis on federal and state fiscal policy, including entitlement programs. Partial overlap with PERC's fiscal and entitlement policy research agenda.
• Manhattan Institute: Free-market-oriented policy research organization producing economic and fiscal policy analysis. Smaller scale than AEI/Cato but ideologically and topically comparable to PERC's policy work.
• George W. Bush Institute: Policy research organization at SMU focused on economic growth, immigration, and education reform with market-oriented scholarship. Comparable in combining free-market policy research with university affiliation in Texas.

Direct peers

• National Bureau of Economic Research: Network of academic economists producing working papers and policy-relevant research, with which PERC faculty research fellows are affiliated. Direct peer in producing economic working papers and shaping macroeconomic and fiscal policy debates.
• Hoover Institution: Stanford University-affiliated public policy research center promoting free-market principles and individual liberty. Most direct peer given shared university-hosted structure, free-market orientation, and emphasis on economic and fiscal policy research.
• Becker Friedman Institute for Economics: University of Chicago's hub for economic research, hosting faculty research fellows and producing working papers in leading economics journals. Direct peer in university-hosted economics research with strong publication output.
• Mercatus Center: George Mason University-based research center focused on free-market policy analysis and scholarship. Closely comparable in university-embedded operating model, market-oriented policy stance, and academic publication output.

Broad incumbents

• RAND Corporation: Large, established research institution conducting policy analysis across economics, education, and health. Comparable in producing applied economic research with policy implications, though much broader in scope and scale than PERC.
• Cato Institute: Large, established think tank advocating limited government and free markets with a strong economics and policy research division. Larger and broader in scope than PERC but ideologically aligned and a primary competitor for free-market policy influence.
• American Enterprise Institute: Washington, D.C.-based public policy think tank conducting economic, political, and social research with a market-oriented perspective. Broader portfolio than PERC but comparable in producing economic-policy research used by federal policymakers.

Market position

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/private-enterprise-research-center

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Private Enterprise Research Center