Resources
ABOUT RESOURCES
This page hosts the resources I draw from when thinking about policy issues. These resources could be links to organizations, articles, books, or any other media I have enjoyed reading or learning from. This probably also stands as a de facto citations page since I have no doubt I will often be borrowing and honing these people’s incredible ideas.
Complexity Science
Here are some awesome books to understand complexity science: my favorite way to think about public policy.
- "Complexity and the Art of Public Policy: Solving Society's Problems from the Bottom Up" by David Colander & Roland Kupers
- "The Evolution of Cooperation" by RobertAxelrod
- "Harnessing Complexity: Organizational Implications of a Scientific Frontier" by RobertAxelrod & Michael Cohen
- "The Complexity of Cooperation" by Robert Axelrod
- "Complex Adaptive Systems: An Introduction to Computational Models of Social Life" by John Miller & Scott Page
Psychology
Psychology, specifically Organizational and individual psychology, have been underutilized in public policy for a long time. These books are helping me fix that.
- "Thinking, Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman
- "The Wisdom of Crowds" by James Surowiecki
- "The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion" by Jonathan Haidt
- "Grit: Passion Perseverance, and the Science of Success" by Angela Duckworth
- "The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups" by Daniel Coyle
- "Corruptible: Who gets Power and How it Changes Us" by Brian Klaas
- "Nudge: The Final Edition" by Richard Thaler & Cass R. Sunstein
- "Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics" by Richard Thaler
Everything Else
These are books from fields considered policy adjacent, but shouldn’t be, fields like: social justice, planning, foreign policy, and others.
- "Walkable City: How Downtown can Save America One Step at a Time" by Jeff Speck
- "Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream" by Duaney, Plater-Zyberk, & Speck
- "How to be an Antiracist" by Ibram X. Kendi
- "The Despot's Accomplice: How the West is Aiding and Abetting the Decline of Democracy" by Brian Klaas
Great Minds & Other Media
These are some of the authors of the books above and other individuals I think are exceptional in their fields.
- Elinor Ostrom, Economics & Organizational Theory
- Robert Axelrod, Complexity Science
- Ezra Klein, Public Policy
- Fareed Zakaria, Foreign Policy
- Herbert Simon, Behavioral Theory in Public Policy
- Richard Thaler, Behavioral Economics
- Daniel Kahneman, Psychology & Behavioral Economics
- Kristen Cox, Public Administration & Resource Management
Talk to ME
Want me to cover a certain policy topic or have a question about something I already wrote? Have feedback or criticism? Bring it on. I love that stuff.