Alan E. Wiseman

Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair in Political Science
Professor of Law

Alan Wiseman studies the impact of political institutions on political actors' behavior and strategies, focusing substantively on legislative, bureaucratic and regulatory politics in the U.S. He has written extensively on legal issues ranging from regulatory enforcement policies, to interstate trade barriers, to the taxation of electronic commerce. His current scholarship examines the causes and consequences of legislative effectiveness in the United States Congress, the political determinants of bureaucratic rulemaking and lawmaking in the United States and other developed democracies, and the emergence and consequences of industry self-regulation in different product and service markets. Prior to joining Vanderbilt’s political science faculty with a secondary appointment at the law school, he served on the faculty of Ohio State University, where he directed the undergraduate public policy minor in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. He has also been a visiting professor at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. Before entering the academy he was a visiting economic scholar with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. He is the co-director of the Center for Effective Lawmaking: www.thelawmakers.org

Representative Publications

• Legislative Effectiveness in the United States Congress: The Lawmakers, Cambridge University Press, 2014 (with Craig Volden)
• “Price Effects and the Commerce Clause: The Case of State Wine Shipping Laws,” 10(2) Journal of Empirical Legal Studies 196 (2013) (with Jerry Ellig) 
  Full Text | SSRN | PDF
• "Breaking Gridlock: The Determinants of Health Policy Change in Congress," 36 Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 2 (2011) (with Craig Volden)
• The Internet Economy: Access, Taxes, and Market Structure (Brookings Institution Press, 2000) (Japanese Edition published in 2002.)
• “The Politics of Investigations and Regulatory Enforcement by Independent Agents and Cabinet Appointees” (with Kenneth W. Shotts). 2010. Journal of Politics. 72 (1): 209-226.
• “Delegation and Positive-Sum Bureaucracies” 2009. Journal of Politics. 71 (3): 998-1014.
• “Gerrymanders and Theories of Law Making: A Study of Legislative Redistricting in Illinois” (with Michael C. Herron). Journal of Politics. 2008. 70 (1): 151-167.
• “The Legislative Median and Partisan Policy” (with John R. Wright). 2008. Journal of Theoretical Politics. 20 (1): 5-29. Erratum: Journal of Theoretical Politics. 2008. 20(4):527-528.
• “The Politics of Wine: Trade Barriers, Interest Groups and the Commerce Clause” (with Jerry Ellig). 2007. Journal of Politics. 69 (3): 859-875.
  Full Text | SSRN
• “Bargaining in Legislatures over Particularistic and Collective Goods” (with Craig Volden). American Political Science Review. 2007. 101(1): 79-92. Erratum: American Political Science Review. 2008. 102(3) 385-386.