Editing Mancur Olson (section)

===Policy work===
To help bring his ideas to the attention of policymakers, Olson founded the Center for Institutional Reform in the Informal Sector ("IRIS Center"), funded by [[USAID]] (United States Agency for International Development). Based at the University of Maryland, the Center sought to supply an intellectual foundation for legal and economic reform projects carried out by USAID in formerly communist states that were attempting to make the transition to market-driven democratic governments governed by the [[rule of law]]. It was particularly active in East and Central Europe and the former Soviet Union.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}

The center also became actively involved in projects in South America, Africa, and Asia, where it became a proponent of [[judicial independence]].  It sponsored the first conference on [[corruption]] in francophone Africa in the 1990s, when it was a very sensitive subject.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}} The IRIS Center continued to operate after Olson's death, but was eventually folded into other programs at the University of Maryland.

To honor Olson's many contributions, the [[American Political Science Association]] established the Olson Award for the best PhD dissertation in Political Economy.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://apsanet.org/membership/organized-sections/organized-section-25-mancur-olson-best-dissertation-award/|title=Organized Section 25: Mancur Olson Best Dissertation Award}}</ref> In 2013 the University of Maryland announced the creation of a new [[Financial endowment#Endowed professorships|endowed professorship]]—the Mancur Olson Professor of Economics.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.econ.umd.edu/about/news/97 |title=Recent News: May 14, 2013 &#124; Department of Economics, University of Maryland |access-date=May 18, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202231744/http://www.econ.umd.edu/about/news/97 |archive-date=December 2, 2013 }}</ref> Maryland Professor of Economics Peter Murrell was the first Mancur Olson Professor.