Workshop on Government and the Politics of Problem Solving

photo of a crowd of people from the back wtih event title

Hosted by the Institution for Social and Policy Studies at Yale University
Co-Organizers: Alan Gerber (Yale University) and Eric Patashnik (Brown University)

December 5-6, 2024
Institution for Social and Policy Studies
77 Prospect Street, New Haven, CT

THURSDAY,  December 5, 2024

time activity

4:00-5:30 PM
ISPS Room A002

 WHY WE CAN’T HAVE NICE THINGS: HOW THE LAW IS HOLDING AMERICA BACK
Speaker: Nicholas Bagley, University of Michigan Law School
Discussants:
  • Amy Kapczynski, Yale Law School
  • David Schleicher, Yale Law School
  • Stephen Skowronek, Political Science, Yale University

Moderator: Alan Gerber, Yale University
6:30-9:00 PM COCKTAILS AND CONFERENCE DINNER with dinner seating at 7:00 PM
The Study at Yale Hotel Penthouse, 1157 Chapel Street, New Haven, CT

 

FRIDAY, December 6, 2024

time activity
8:00-9:00 AM Breakfast Buffet, ISPS Room A002
9:00-9:15 AM WELCOME REMARKS AND WORKSHOP OVERVIEW, ISPS Room A001
Alan Gerber, Yale University and Eric Patashnik, Brown University
9:15-10:15 AM PANEL 1
  • Bryan Jones, University of Texas
    Are Democracies Better at Solving Problems than Non-Democratic Regimes?
  • Alan Gerber, Yale University and Eric Patashnik, Brown University
    Demand- and Supply-Side Constraints on Problem Solving

Discussant: David Mayhew, Yale University
Moderator: Frances Lee, Princeton University
10:15-10:30 AM Coffee Break
10:30-11:45 AM PANEL 2
  • Steve Teles, Johns Hopkins University
    Problem Solving in Criminal Justice
  • Matt Grossmann, Michigan State University
    Problem Solving Through Government is an Ideology of Educated Liberals
  • Larry Rothenberg, University of Rochester
    Reflections on Government Success and Failure

Moderator & Discussant: Keith Whittington, Yale Law School
11:45 AM -
1:15 PM		 LUNCH WITH SPEAKER
  • David Wilkinson,  Executive Director of the Tobin Center for Economic Policy, Yale University
    Practitioner’s Perspective: A Conversation with David Wilkinson, Former Director of the White House Office of Social Innovation
1:15-1:30 PM Break
1:30-2:30 PM PANEL 3
  • Sarah Anzia, University of California Berkeley
    Housing, Pensions, and the Organization of Interests
  • Dan Carpenter, Harvard University
    Heuristic Agenda Closure in Administrative Government

Moderator & Discussant: Roberta Romano, Yale Law School
2:30-2:45 PM Coffee Break
2:45-4:00 PM PANEL 4
  • Frances Lee, Princeton University
    Congress as Problem Solver: Building Consensus Despite Polarization
  • Brandice Canes-Wrone, Stanford University
    Congressional Fundraising Dynamics and Their Implications for Problem Solving
  • Don Moynihan, University of Michigan
    The Civil Service as a Problem-Solving Institution

Moderator & Discussant: Christina Kinane, Yale University
4:00-4:30 PM WHAT DID WE LEARN?
Group discussion moderated by Alan Gerber and Eric Patashnik
4:30-6:30 PM ADJOURN & BREAK
Guests free to return to The Study at Yale Hotel, 1157 Chapel Street
6:30 PM CASUAL DINNER for those staying over
ZINC Restaurant, 964 Chapel Street, New Haven, CT