Part of Troy University, campuses in Montgomery, Dothan, Phenix City (just west of Columbus, Georgia), Alabama:
Thanks to a $3.6 million gift from Manuel H. Johnson, the BB&T Charitable Foundation, and the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, the Manuel H. Johnson Center for Political Economy was founded in 2010. The Johnson Center supports the exploration of economic freedom and its role in promoting the economic well-being of people. The center is built on the assumption that liberty is valuable in its own right and plays a crucial role in economic development.
The center's success depends on actively engaged students and scholars, and it is only made possible through the support of foundations and private individuals committed to advancing our understanding about the role free markets and capitalist institutions play in promoting prosperity.
A look-see at the donors to the foundation: M. H. Johnson, BB&T Charitable Foundation and the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation below the fold:
Who Is Manuel H. Johnson?
... Manuel H. Johnson was born and raised in Troy, AL. He is a graduate of Troy University and earned his MS and PhD from Florida State University.
.... From 1977 to 1994, Dr. Johnson was a professor of economics at George Mason University, where he held the Koch Chair in International Economics. Dr. Johnson has written or cowritten five books and more than 50 articles on political economy and public policy. He also edited a professional journal and served on two presidential commissions.
Dr. Manuel H. Johnson is the ideal namesake for this center. Dr. Johnson is a graduate of Troy University and served as a member of the US Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. He is widely respected in business and academic circles, and he is a strong believer in the principles of economic freedom.
George Mason University. From
SourceWatch:
George Mason University is a Virginia-based public university near Washington, D.C. A "magnet for right-wing money" and heavily Koch-funded, it is notable for hosting over 40 libertarian research centers and affiliates including the Institute for Humane Studies and the Mercatus Center.
The Mercatus Center. Again,
SourceWatch:
The Mercatus Center, part of George Mason University, is one of the best-funded think tanks in the United States at the moment. It is listed as "sister organization" to the Institute for Humane Studies. "Mercatus generates knowledge and understanding of how institutions affect the freedom to prosper and holds organizations accountable for their impact on that freedom," it states on its website.
The Mercatus Center was founded and is funded by the Koch Family Foundations. According to financial records, the Koch family has contributed more than thirty million dollars to George Mason, much of which has gone to the Mercatus Center, a nonprofit organization. Democratic strategist Rob Stein described the Mercatus Center as "ground zero for deregulation policy in Washington.”
The Mercatus Center has engaged in campaigns involving deregulation, especially environmental deregulation. It now fills the role once played by the economics department at Chicago University as the originator of extreme neoliberal ideas. Fourteen of the 23 regulations that George W Bush put on his hitlist were, according to the Wall Street Journal, first suggested by academics working at the Mercatus Centre.
The Wall Street Journal has called the Mercatus Center “the most important think tank you’ve never heard of,”
BB&T. Wikipedia:
The BB&T Corporation (Branch Banking & Trust) is an American bank with assets of US$182 billion (September 2012), offering commercial and retail banking services along with other financial services such as insurance, investments, retail brokerage, mortgage, corporate finance, consumer finance, payment services, international banking, leasing and trust. Based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, BB&T operates more than 1,800 financial centers in the United States including North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Indiana, Texas, and Washington, D.C..
.... The company has donated over $1 million to Appalachian State University to establish a leadership center that specializes in researching capitalism and free market economies
The company donated $350,000 to fund the teaching of "The Moral Foundations of Capitalism" at the Loyola College in Maryland.
The company donated $1.5 million to the University of Georgia to "expand teaching and research into the foundations of capitalism and free market economies".
The company donated $1 million to the University of Central Florida to create the BB&T Program for Business Ethics and fund the teaching of "The Moral Foundations of Capitalism".
The company donated $1.75 million to West Virginia University's College of Business and Economics. The funds will establish a BB&T Chair in Free Market Thought and enhance the school's free market research and teaching programs.
In May 2008, National Public Radio reported that the BB&T Charitable Foundation had given 25 U.S. colleges and universities "several million dollars" to fund programs promoting Ayn Rand's work and economic philosophy.
In 2012, BB&T donated approximately $500,000 to Veterans Helping Veterans Heal in Winston-Salem, N.C.
No need to discuss the Koch Boys. Their reputation is already well-known.