Heroes and Legends of Policy Analysis Series
Join Dr. Steven Hayward for a special Fall semester lunchtime seminar series exploring
the foundational figures of policy analysis. A strong background in public policy
requires familiarity with the trailblazing thinkers, both past and present, who shaped
the discipline. Throughout this series, Dr. Hayward will introduce key intellectual
figures, unpack their core ideas, and extract critical insights to help navigate today’s
modern policy challenges.
Online registration closes 24 hours prior to each event date. Be sure to reserve your
spot early, as space is limited and lunch is provided for registered guests!
Event Highlights
- Room Location: SPP Room 175
- Perks: Complimentary lunch provided for each registered guest
- Requirements: None—no required readings, assignments, or prep work necessary
Whether you want to deepen your theoretical foundation or simply gain actionable insights over lunch, all are welcome to attend!
Upcoming Events:
Monday, September 28, 2026
While modern social science often leans heavily on "value-free" empiricism and raw data, policy analysis at its best integrates both empirical facts and moral principles. In this opening session of the Heroes and Legends of Policy Analysis series, Dr. Hayward explores the groundbreaking work of James Q. Wilson—designer of the School of Public Policy's unique curriculum—and his frequent collaborator Edward Banfield, the legendary Harvard political scientist.
Together, Wilson and Banfield challenged pure positivism to produce some of the most enduring analyses on core societal issues, including crime, welfare, urban policy, and social capital.
Monday, October 12, 2026
Join us for the second session of Heroes and Legends of Policy Analysis as we tackle the limits of expert forecasting. "Never prophesy—especially about the future" may be famously attributed to Yogi Berra, Sam Goldwyn, or Mark Twain, but it is a warning rarely heeded by an expert class whose sophisticated models and scenarios regularly fail. While effective planning requires setting expectations for what lies ahead, expert predictions carry a notoriously poor track record on matters both large and small.
In this session, we will explore what accounts for the frequent failure of expert judgment through the lens of Philip Tetlock (Expert Political Judgment), James C. Scott (Seeing Like a State), Peter Schuck (Why Government Fails So Often), and others.
Monday, November 2, 2026
Join us for the third and final session of Heroes and Legends of Policy Analysis, where we examine the origins and impact of the "administrative state." While the term has become a ubiquitous part of modern debate, its roots actually date back to 1940s political science literature. Standing at the intersection of constitutional law and technical governance, the administrative state raises critical questions about authority, accountability, and bureaucratic power: how did it evolve into one of the most defining policy topics of our time? Drawing on the foundational works of James Burnham, Vincent Ostrom, and John Marini, this closing seminar explores the ideas and institutional shifts that shaped today's administrative landscape.
Series Leadership:
Dr. Steven Hayward
Steven F. Hayward joined the School of Public Policy as the William E. Simon Distinguished Visiting Professor in 2013 and the Ronald Reagan Professor of Public Policy from 2014 to 2016. Before returning as the Edward L. Gaylord Visiting Professor of Public Policy, Hayward was a resident scholar at UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies, and a fellow of the Law and Policy Program at Berkeley Law.
From 2002 to 2012 Hayward was the F.K. Weyerhaeuser Fellow in Law and Economics at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, DC. He is currently a senior fellow at the Pacific Research Institute in San Francisco.
He frequently writes on a wide range of current topics, including environmentalism, law, economics, and public policy for publications including National Review, Reason, The Weekly Standard, The American Spectator, The Public Interest, the Claremont Review of Books, and the Policy Review at the Hoover Institution. His newspaper articles have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Chicago Tribune, and dozens of other daily newspapers. Hayward is the author of a two-volume narrative history of Ronald Reagan and his effect on American political life, The Age of Reagan: The Fall of the Old Liberal Order, 1964-1980, and The Age of Reagan: The Conservative Counter-Revolution, 1980-1989 (CrownForum books). His other books include Index of Leading Environmental Indicators; The Almanac of Environmental Trends; Mere Environmentalism: A Biblical Perspective on Humans and the Natural World, Churchill on Leadership; Greatness: Reagan, Churchill, and the Making of Extraordinary Leaders; Patriotism Is Not Enough; and M. Stanton Evans: Conservative Wit, Apostle of Freedom.