“For the creativity of its design, the importance of its subject matter, and the depth of its analysis, Learning While Governing is sure to make a splash in the discipline. Pairing formal theory with American political development, Sean Gailmard and John W. Patty dish up a rich array of insights into the development of policy expertise within the executive branch. Most importantly, they show that the development and transmittal of expertise is unavoidably haphazard, as the institutional solutions to some problems of governance unavoidably exacerbate others.”

William G. Howell, University of Chicago

“This book tackles big questions in governance: how to recruit expertise, how to cultivate it, and how to keep it. Sean Gailmard and John W. Patty deftly connect political choices about the structure of institutions with the provision of government expertise in a theoretically rich and accessible work.”

David E. Lewis, Vanderbilt University

“Learning While Governing offers an entirely fresh perspective on the transformation of the executive office into a full-blown institution. Pushing against the received wisdom that the expansion of the presidency undermines constitutional forms, Sean Gailmard and John W. Patty show how an executive-centered administrative state emerged from the complicated dance of executive-congressional relations. Cautiously optimistic about the incentives for responsible governance ingrained in America’s complex system of checks and balances, the book offers a compelling formula for the construction of a representative bureaucracy. Strongly recommended for anyone seriously interested in the historical development of political institutions in the United States.”

Sidney M. Milkis, University of Virginia

“This smartly argued work will be of interest to graduate students and scholars interested in the newest thinking on the question of the development of the US administrative state. Recommended.”

Choice

“An ambitious book that analyzes the effects of organizational structure on the acquisition and dissemination of information by public-sector bureaucrats in the United States. Scholars interested in longstanding issues related to the national bureaucracy, such as the alleged erosion of neutral competence, will learn much from Learning While Governing."

Congress and the Presidency

“Gailmard and Patty’s engaging book . . . explores the implications of endogenous policy expertise for the institutional relationships between the government’s constitutional branches and the bureaucracy. Skillfully weaving together theory and history, the book offers a compelling and unified account of how government organization affects bureaucratic incentives to acquire, share, and elicit policy-relevant information. . . . Through the importance of its subject matter and depth of its analysis Learning While Governing represents a significant contribution to the political economy of bureaucratic expertise and institutional design that is bound to enrich discussion in graduate classes in political science, public administration, and regulation economics. All future research on bureaucratic institutionalization will need to engage the ideas developed in this work.”

Journal of Politics