George A. Krause -

Alumni Foundation Distinguished Professor of Public AdministrationProfessor of Public Administration and Policy

George A. Krause is the Alumni Foundation Distinguished Professor of Public Administration (PhD, West Virginia University, 1994). His previous faculty appointments include serving both as an Assistant and Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of South Carolina (1994-2005) and, more recently, Professor of Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh (2005-2017). Professor Krause’s core scholarly interests center on issues pertaining to governance, accountability, and representation in the United States. These interests span a diverse and eclectic set of fields and subfields, including Public Administration & Bureaucracy, Organizational Theory, Executive Politics, Political Economics, Legislative Politics, and Subnational Politics & Policymaking. His current research activities investigate both the selection and the role of bureaucratic leadership in U.S. federal government agencies; the exercise of executive authority; administrative performance; the implications of shared power arrangements for democratic governance and policymaking within the administrative state; and the institutional and organizational aspects of fiscal policymaking in the realm of democratic politics.

Education

Ph.D., West Virginia University, Political Science, 1994
MA, West Virginia University, Political Science, 1993
MA, West Virginia University, Economics, 1990
BA, University of Pittsburgh, Economics, 1988

Areas of Expertise

Public Administration
Executive Politics & Governance
Organizational Theory
American Politics
Fiscal Policymaking & Governance
Political Economics

Honors, Awards, and Achievements

2012 Herbert A. Simon Award [for significant career scholarly contributions to the scientific study of bureaucracy: administered by the Midwest Public Administration Caucus, Midwest Political Science Association].
2013 Alan Rosenthal Prize: The Diversity Paradox: Political Parties, Legislatures, and the Organizational Foundations of Representation in America(with Kristin Kanthak), Oxford University Press 2012 [for best book or article in legislative studies that has potential value to legislative practitioners: administered by the Legislative Politics organized section, American Political Science Association].
2014 “One of the 75 Most Influential Articles Published in the 75 Year History of Public Administration Review: “Reputation and Public Administration.” (with Daniel Carpenter), January/February 2012, pp. 26-32.
2020 Founders Award Honoring Martha Joynt Kumar: “Confirmation Dynamics: Distinguishing Between Information Versus Procedural Delay in the Appointment of U.S. Federal Agency Leaders.” (with Jason S. Byers) [for best paper presented by Ph.D. holding scholars, 2019 annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Presidency and Executive Politics (PEP) organized section].
2022 Best Paper in American Politics Award: “Executive Appointee Reliability under Separated Powers: Presidential Loyalty Among Leaders of U.S. Federal Agencies.” (with Gary E. Hollibaugh, Jr.) [for best paper presented in the field of American Politics during the 2021 annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association].
2017-2018: President, Presidency and Executive Politics Organized Section, American Political Science Association.
2007-2008: President, Midwest Public Administration Caucus, Midwest Political Science Association.
Treasurer, Political Economy Organized Section, American Political Science Association (2018-2020)
Editorial Board Member: American Journal of Political Science(2014-6/2018), Journal of Politics (2005-2006, 2009-2014), Journal of Public Administration Research & Theory (2002-2009), Political Analysis (2003-2007), Publius: The Journal of Federalism (Advisory Council: 2016-Present).
Associate Editor, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory (7/2019-7/2023)

Affiliations

American Political Science Association (APSA)
Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA)
Public Management Research Association (PMRA)
Southern Political Science Association (SPSA)
Society for Institutional & Organizational Economics (SIOE)

Research Interests

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.

Selected Publications

Books:

Krause, George A. 1999. A Two-Way Street: The Institutional Dynamics of the Modern Administrative State. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press. [Paperback and Digital Re-Issued Editions: October 2010].

Krause, George A., and Kenneth J. Meier. Editors. 2003. Politics, Policy, and Organizations: Frontiers in the Scientific Study of Bureaucracy. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press. [Paperback Edition: August 2005].

Kanthak, Kristin, and George A. Krause. 2012. The Diversity Paradox: Political Parties, Legislatures, and the Organizational Foundations of Representation in America. New York: Oxford University Press. [Paperback and Hardcover Editions].

Book Chapters:

Krause, George A. 2010. “Legislative Delegation of Authority to Bureaucratic Agencies.” The Oxford Handbook of American Bureaucracy. Robert F. Durant, ed. New York: Oxford University Press.

Journal Articles:

Krause, George A. 1994. “Federal Reserve Policy Decision Making: Political and Bureaucratic Influences.” American Journal of Political Science 38(February): 124-144.

Krause, George A. 2003. “Coping with Uncertainty: Analyzing Risk Propensities of SEC Budgetary Decisions, 1949-1997.” American Political Science Review 97(February): 171-188.

Krause, George A., and James W. Douglas. 2005. “Institutional Design versus Reputational Explanations of Agency Performance: Evidence from U.S. Government Macroeconomic and Fiscal Projections.” Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 15(April): 281-306.

Krause, George A., and James W. Douglas. 2006. “Does Agency Competition Improve the Quality of Policy Analysis? Evidence from OMB and CBO Current Year Fiscal Projections.” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 25(Winter): 53-74.

Krause, George A., David E. Lewis, and James W. Douglas. 2006. “Political Appointments, Civil Service Systems, and Bureaucratic Competence: Organizational Balancing and Executive Branch Revenue Forecasts in the American States.” American Journal of Political Science 50(July): 770-787.

Krause, George A., and J. Kevin Corder. 2007. “Explaining Bureaucratic Optimism: Theory and Evidence from U.S. Federal Executive Agency Macroeconomic Forecasts.” American Political Science Review 101(February): 129-142.

Krause, George A. 2009. “Organizational Complexity and Coordination Dilemmas in U.S. Executive Politics.” Presidential Studies Quarterly 39(March): 74-88.(Special Issue on “The Administrative Presidency”).

Kanthak, Kristin, and George A. Krause. 2010. “Valuing Diversity in Political Organizations: Gender and Token-Minorities in the U.S. House of Representatives.” American Journal of Political Science 54(October): 839-854.

Krause, George A., and Benjamin F. Melusky. 2012. “Concentrated Powers: Unilateral Executive Authority and Fiscal Policymaking in the American States.” Journal of Politics 74(January): 98-112.

Krause, George A., and James W. Douglas. 2013. “Organizational Structure and the Optimal Design of Policymaking Panels: Evidence from Consensus Group Commissions Revenue Forecasts in the American States.” American Journal of Political Science 57(January): 135-149.

Krause, George A., David E. Lewis, and James W. Douglas. 2013. “Politics Can Limit Policy Opportunism in Fiscal Institutions: Evidence from Official General Fund Revenue Forecasts in the American States.” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 32(Spring): 271-295.

Carpenter, Daniel, and George A. Krause. 2015. “Transactional Authority and Bureaucratic Politics.” Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 25(January): 5-25.

Krause, George A., and Anne Joseph O’Connell. 2016. “Experiential Learning and Presidential Management of the U.S. Federal Bureaucracy: Logic and Evidence from Agency Leadership Appointments.” American Journal of Political Science 60(October): 914-931.

Krause, George A., and Roger Qiyuan Jin. 2020. “Organizational Design and its Consequences for Administrative Reform: Historical Lessons from the U.S. Budget and Accounting Act of 1921.” Governance 33(April): 365-384.

Krause, George A., and Matthew Zarit. 2022. “Policy-Specific Expertise and the Importance of Organizational Leadership in Shared Administrative Governance: Evidence from U.S. Federal Cooperative Agreements.” Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 38 (March): 272-306

Krause, George A. 2022. “Solving Collective Action Problems under Separated and Shared Powers: The Benefits of Consolidating Executive Budgetary Powers, 1895-1940.” Journal of Politics 84 (April): 753-766.

Krause, George A., and Jason S. Byers. 2022 “Confirmation Dynamics: Differential Vetting in the Appointment of U.S. Federal Agency Leaders.” Journal of Politics 84 (April) 1189-1201.

Krause, George A., and Matthew Zarit. 2022. “The Retraction of Policy Benefits Across U.S. Federal Agencies: Programmatic Cutbacks and Executive Control of U.S. Federal Grant Retrenchments.” Public Administration Review 82 (January/February): 51-64.

Krause, George A., and Jungyeon Park. 2023 “Does Coordinated Administrative Leadership U.S. Federal Agency Management of Discrimination Problems?” Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 33(July): 529-545.

Krause, George A., and Jungyeon Park. nd.“How Status-Group Differentials Shape Age Discrimination within U.S. Federal Agencies: Evidence from EEOC Formal Complaint Filings, 2010-2019.” Public Administration Review (Forthcoming). Early View: https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13532.