简介

Professor Weatherford's research has ranged over questions of political economy, representation and political behavior, as well as the use of research in policymaking, and has been supported by NSF and private foundations. His studies of representation and political behavior have investigated how voters learn about national economic conditions and translate that information into political choices and actions; how declining public trust in national political institutions and politicians conditions the government's ability to respond to problems; and how local activists, parents and the wider citizenry engage in the governance of public K-12 education (from the school desegregation controversies of the 1970s and 1980s, to the formation and performance of citizen deliberative forums more recently). His studies of policymaking and political leadership have focused on economic policy, comparing how post-war presidents have combined economic ideas with political goals to set a course for the national economy, and how they have drawn on research and policy ideas in seeking to persuade Congress and the public to support them; and on education policy reforms, where the focus has been on how formal research is integrated into the policy process, and on how interpersonal networks foster dissemination and implementation.