Research

My research activities are motivated by my long-standing interests in the study of Organizational Theory, American Political Institutions, Political Economics, Policy Making, and Decision-Making Behavior in a variety of contexts. This eclectic set of interests underscore my central aim of arriving at basic insights regarding both democratic governance and performance. Listed below are the core topics that have largely defined the parameters of my scholarly interests during my academic career:

Organizational behavior, arrangements, and mechanism design both within and across government institutions (public bureaucracies, executive and legislative branches).
Understanding both the role and distribution of executive authority relating to administrative policymaking within U.S. federal and state governments.
Centralization of fiscal and budgetary policymaking, and administrative organizations within separation of powers systems.
Decision-making processes in the realm of both mass publics and governments.

Current projects that fit under these parameters include analyses of both the political and organizational challenges associated with the administration of unemployment insurance programs by U.S. state governments (with Ji Hyeun Hong, University of Georgia); measurement and analysis of U.S. federal agency performance (with David E. Lewis, Vanderbilt University); analyses of U.S. federal executive appointments within a separation of powers context (with Jason S. Byers, University of Connecticut); and distinguishing the roles of discretionary and rule-based policymaking effects on income inequality in the American states (with Michelle L. Lofton, University of Georgia).