Jacob Hacker
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Jacob Stewart Hacker (born 1971) is an American professor and political scientist. He is the director of the Institution for Social and Policy Studies and a professor of
political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...
at
Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
. Hacker has written works on social policy, health care reform, and economic insecurity in the United States.


Early life and education

Hacker was born and raised in
Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lane County, Oregon, United States. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie River (Oregon), McKenzie and Willamette River, Willamette rivers, ...
. He graduated summa cum laude in 1994 from
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
with a B.A. in social studies, and he received his Ph.D. from Yale in
political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...
in 2000. His first book, ''The Road to Nowhere: The Genesis of President Clinton's Plan for Health Security'', was published in 1996, while he was a graduate student at Yale.


Career

Hacker is a media contributor and has testified before the
United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...
. He was widely recognized as a contributor to the health care plans for three of the leading Democratic candidates —
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
,
Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...
, and John Edwards — in the presidential election of 2008. Hacker's plan, ''Health Care for America,'' is outlined in a report for the Economic Policy Institute. It proposes providing health care for uninsured or under-insured Americans by requiring employers to either provide insurance to their workers or enroll them in a new, publicly overseen insurance pool. People in this pool could choose either a public plan modeled after Medicare or from regulated private plans. Hacker's work with the international think tank Policy Network has had a major influence on the policies of many European political parties and his concept of pre-distribution has become a cornerstone of the UK Labour Party's economic policy and his name has even been mentioned by Prime Minister
David Cameron David William Donald Cameron, Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton (born 9 October 1966) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. Until 2015, he led the first coalition government in the UK s ...
during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons. Hacker was a fellow at New America in 1999 and 2002. In 2007 he co-chaired the National Academy of Social Insurance's conference, "For the Common Good," and oversees a Social Science Research Council project on the "privatization of risk." Hacker's 2010 book, the ''New York Times'' bestseller '' Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Richer Richer--and Turned Its Back on the Middle Class'' (
Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...
), written with Paul Pierson of
UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...
, argues that since the late 1970s the American middle and working classes have fallen further and further behind economically because policy changes in government favor the rich and super-rich. Their 2016 book ''American Amnesia: How the War on Government Led Us to Forget What Made America Prosper'' argues for the restoration and reinvigoration of the United States
mixed economy A mixed economy is an economic system that includes both elements associated with capitalism, such as private businesses, and with socialism, such as nationalized government services. More specifically, a mixed economy may be variously de ...
. In 2017, he was elected a Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...
.


The Economic Security Index (ESI)

In July 2010 the Economic Security Index was launched. Developed by Hacker and a multi-disciplinary research team with support from the
Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The foundation was created by Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller (" ...
, the ESI measures the share of Americans who experience at least a 25 percent decline in their income from one year to the next and who lack an adequate financial safety net to replace this lost income.


Personal life

Hacker is married to Oona A. Hathaway, a Professor of Law at Yale University and former
Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
clerk to Sandra Day O'Connor.


Works

* Let them eat Tweets : how the right rules in an age of extreme inequality, with Paul Pierson, New York, NY : Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2020. * * * * * * * *


See also

* Pre-distribution * Policy Network


References


External links


Jacob Hacker on his new book ''Winner-Take-All Politics''
- video interview by '' Democracy Now!'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Hacker, Jacob 1971 births American political scientists Harvard College alumni Living people Writers from Eugene, Oregon Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Yale University faculty Social Science Research Council New America (organization) 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews