I am a political scientist specializing in U.S. public policy. I received both my doctorate in political science (1996) and master of public policy (1989) from U.C. Berkeley. Before moving to UVA in 2002, I taught at the UCLA School of Public Affairs and in the Yale Department of Political Science. I have written about a wide range of topics including: the origins and political development of the Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid programs; the politics of government trust funds and long-term commtiments; the politics of evidence-based medicine; and the strategic use of pork projects to build winning coalitions.
 My latest book, Reforms at Risk: What Happens After Major Policy Changes Are Enacted (Princeton University Press, 2008), was awarded the 2009 Louis Brownlow Book Award from the National Academy of Public Administration. It explores why some sweeping policy reforms stick and others are reversed or eroded after enactment.
My other books are: Promoting the General Welfare: New Perspectives on Government Performance (co-edited with Alan S. Gerber, Brookings Institution Press, 2006) and Putting Trust in the U.S. Budget: Federal Trust Funds and the Politics of Commitment (Cambridge University Press, 2000). My new edited book (with Jeffery A. Jenkins) Living Legislation: Duability, Change, and the Politics of American Lawmking, will be published by University of Chicago Press in spring 2012.
My essays have appeared in Political Science Quarterly, Governance, P.S., Policy Sciences, Health Affairs, Journal of Health Politics, Policy & Law, Social Service Review, and in many edited volumes.
I am a Nonresident Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution and a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. My current major research project (with Alan Gerber, Yale) explores the politics of evidence-based medicine and comparative effectiveness research. Our research is supported by grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Investigators Award in Health Policy Research (press release) and the Smith Richardson Foundation. A recent Health Affairs article of ours is here
My paper (with Julian Zelizer) "When Policy Does Not Remake Politics: The Limits of Policy Feedback" won the award for the best paper on public policy delivered at the 2009 American Political Science Association conference.
Information about the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy is here: Batten School
My wife Deborah Gordon is a policy consultant specializing in transportation, energy and the environment. See: Deborah Gordon
| A description and excerpts of my latest book Reforms at Risk here: Reform book
Reviews are here: Book reviews.doc
A description of my book Promoting the General Welfare (with Alan S. Gerber) and the Introduction are here: Promoting the General Welfare
Reviews of my 2000 book Putting Trust in the U.S. Budget are here
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