“How Does Executive Action Work? Evidence from Military Subsidies to Policing,” Kenneth Lowande, University of Michigan

AMERICAN POLITICS & PUBLIC POLICY WORKSHOP

Abstract: Policy in the United States is increasingly changed by executive actions of the President. Scholarship typically investigates policy adoption, but relatively little investigates their consequences. We propose a framework for studying the impact of executive action that distinguishes between material and symbolic (i.e., political) consequences. We then apply that framework to an area of public policy altered frequently by Presidents: supplying surplus military hardware to law enforcement agencies. Inventory data spanning 2014 to 2025 allows us to benchmark the magnitude and timing of federal, state, and local-level bureaucratic compliance with five presidential directives. Then, using a stacked difference-in-differences design, we show de-militarization and re-militarization had little detectable effect on crime, officer safety, and the use-of-force. Instead, these actions contributed to the polarization of public policy — most notably, with law enforcement agencies in conservative areas now more likely to take up subsidies.

Kenneth Lowande is Associate Professor of Political Science and Public Policy (by courtesy) at the University of Michigan, and a faculty associate in the Institute for Social Research. His research focuses on American political institutions and policymaking, with published work on congressional oversight, presidential power, and policy implementation. He previously held research fellowships at Washington University in St. Louis and the Center for the Study of Democratic Politics at Princeton University. His book False Front: The Failed Promise of Presidential Power (University of Chicago Press) won the 2025 Richard E. Neustadt Award for best book on the American presidency.

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