Jacob S. Hacker is Stanley Resor Professor of Political Science at Yale University. A regular policy advisor and expert commentator, he is the author or co-author of six books, numerous journal articles, and a wide range of popular writings on American politics and public policy. His latest book, written with Paul Pierson, is Let Them Eat Tweets: How the Right Rules in an Age of Extreme Inequality. Previously, the two wrote American Amnesia: How the War on Government Led Us to Forget What Made America Prosper—a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice and a best business book of 2016 according to Strategy+Business. Their 2010 bestseller Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer and Turned Its Back on the Middle Class recast the debate over U.S. economic inequality, showing how the rise of the superrich in the United States is closely linked to American politics and policy. In addition, Professor Hacker is the author of a prizewinning book on health care reform (The Road to Nowhere), a widely cited study of America’s public-private framework of social benefits (The Divided Welfare State), and a prescient popular-audience book on American insecurity (The Great Risk Shift), first published in 2006 and expanded, revised, and reissued in 2019. Professor Hacker is also known for his research and writings regarding health policy, especially his development of the so-called public option. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, his recent honors include election to the American Academy of Political and Social Science as the 2021 Robert A. Dahl Fellow and the 2020 Robert Ball Award of the National Academy of Social Insurance.
