Learning While Governing: Expertise and Accountability in the Executive Branch (Chicago Studies in American Politics)

Although their leaders and staff are not elected, bureaucratic agencies have the power to make policy decisions that carry the full force of the law. In this groundbreaking book, Sean Gailmard and John W. Patty explore an issue central to political science and public administration: How do Congress and the president ensure that bureaucratic agencies implement their preferred policies? The assumption has long been that bureaucrats bring to their positions expertise, which must then be marshaled to serve the interests of a particular policy. In Learning While Governing, Gailmard and Patty overturn this conventional wisdom, showing instead that much of what bureaucrats need to know to perform effectively is learned on the job. Bureaucratic expertise, they argue, is a function of administrative institutions and interactions with political authorities that collectively create an incentive for bureaucrats to develop expertise. The challenge for elected officials is therefore to provide agencies with the autonomy to do so while making sure they do not stray significantly from the administration’s course. To support this claim, the authors analyze several types of information-management processes. Learning While Governing speaks to an issue with direct bearing on power relations between Congress, the president, and the executive agencies, and it will be a welcome addition to the literature on bureaucratic development.

Politics & Social Sciences

Gailmard, Sean

Patty, John W.

Politics & Government

University of Chicago Press

Although their leaders and staff are not elected, bureaucratic agencies have the power to make policy decisions that carry the full force of the law. In this groundbreaking book, Sean Gailmard and John W. Patty explore an issue central to political science and public administration: How do Congress and the president ensure that bureaucratic agencies implement their preferred policies? The assumption has long been that bureaucrats bring to their positions expertise, which must then be marshaled to serve the interests of a particular policy. In Learning While Governing, Gailmard and Patty overturn this conventional wisdom, showing instead that much of what bureaucrats need to know to perform effectively is learned on the job. Bureaucratic expertise, they argue, is a function of administrative institutions and interactions with political authorities that collectively create an incentive for bureaucrats to develop expertise. The challenge for elected officials is therefore to provide agencies with the autonomy to do so while making sure they do not stray significantly from the administration’s course. To support this claim, the authors analyze several types of information-management processes. Learning While Governing speaks to an issue with direct bearing on power relations between Congress, the president, and the executive agencies, and it will be a welcome addition to the literature on bureaucratic development.

Agents of Empire (Political Economy of Institutions and Decisions)

Agents of Empire: English Imperial Governance and the Making of American Political Institutions (Political Economy of Institutions and Decisions)

Business & Money

Economics

Cambridge University Press

Statistical Modeling and Inference for Social Science (Analytical Methods for Social Research)

This book provides an introduction to probability theory, statistical inference, and statistical modeling for social science researchers and Ph.D. students. Focusing on the connection between statistical procedures and social science theory, Sean Gailmard develops core statistical theory as a set of tools to model and assess relationships between variables - the primary aim of social scientists. Gailmard explains how social scientists express and test substantive theoretical arguments in various models. Chapter exercises require application of concepts to actual data and extend students' grasp of core theoretical concepts. Students will complete the book with the ability to read and critique statistical applications in their fields of interest.

Social Sciences

Science & Math

Mathematics

Globalyceum’s American Government is a supplemental and optional print version of the essays from Units 1-8 of its digital course platform American Government. It does not include the lectures, problems, compositions, or multimedia materials of the digital course platform. However, it is useful to students who are accustomed to reading longer texts on paper. About the authors: Globalyceum’s American Government has eight texts from leading political scientists, many of whom have won national prizes in the field of American government: Jack Rakove, Anne-Marie Hancock, Melinda Jackson, Dara Strolovitch, Kathleen Dolan, Sean Gailmard, Lawrence Baum, and Paul Pierson.

American Government

Hancock, Ange-Marie

Pierson, Paul

Rakove, Jack

Globalyceum

Baum, Larry

Dolan, Kathleen

Jackson, Melinda

Strolovitch, Dara

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

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Books by Gailmard, Sean