On April 2, 2025, David Beckworth, a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center, publicly criticized President Trump's sweeping tariff measures, warning that they could trigger stagflation and contribute to a lost midterm election. His comments were part of broader economic analyses amid an escalating trade war.

On June 19, 2024, the Mercatus Center published a detailed policy brief titled 'International Trade Policy under Biden: The “New” Washington Consensus and Its Discontents.' The brief critiques the Biden administration’s industrial and trade policy, arguing that the approach undermines equitable economic growth and worker protections by favoring market fundamentalism and protectionist measures. Although framed as scholarly analysis, the brief advances a free‐market narrative that has long been associated with deregulation and policies that risk exacerbating economic inequality.

The Mercatus Center published an academic article analyzing how increasing state surveillance capacity affects the balance between state authority and civil society oversight, warning that higher surveillance might weaken public ability to check authoritarian advances.

On May 15, 2024, the Mercatus Center published a policy spotlight analyzing the new Department of Labor rule on independent contractors. The research argues that the rule could reduce flexible contracting opportunities and harm workers by pushing them toward full-time employment, proposing instead that government should enable access to flexible, portable benefits.

On November 7, 2023, the Mercatus Center released an academic article, 'The Use of Surveillance in Market Society', which examines the concept of surveillance capitalism within the context of market processes and political economy as inspired by thinkers like Hayek and Zuboff.

The Mercatus Center published a detailed research commentary examining how COVID-19 related surveillance measures, including digital contact tracing, exacerbate socioeconomic inequality and can lead to practices that undermine privacy and stigmatize marginalized communities. The piece critically evaluates these technologies and cautions against their potential for authoritarian misuse.

An investigation into Mercatus Center reveals deep ties to the Koch family and participation in right-wing lobbying networks. The think tank has played a significant role in promoting deregulation and neoliberal policies by leveraging substantial funding from influential conservative donors, shaping legislative agendas and undermining regulatory protections.

On February 27, 2012, the Mercatus Center published a public interest comment on the Department of Labor's proposed revisions to the Fair Labor Standards Act. The comment questioned whether the DOL's changes—aimed at redefining companionship services and associated exemptions—would genuinely address labor market issues or instead impose undue compliance costs that could undermine worker protections.

The Salon article details how the Mercatus Center, heavily funded by Koch-affiliated donations, has been a key player in shaping U.S. regulatory policy. Notably, in 2004 the Bush White House eliminated or altered 14 regulations based on recommendations from the center, and several Mercatus-affiliated scholars later assumed influential government roles, signaling a strategic alignment with a conservative, deregulation agenda.