Institute of Politics

Billy Beane, the acclaimed general manager of the Oakland A’s, is among those who helped revolutionize baseball by using data and statistics to overcome his team’s tremendous financial disadvantage. Many public policy experts say governments at all levels need to start playing their own version of Moneyball. After all, in an era of contentious politics and tight budgets, we can’t afford to keep spending taxpayer dollars on programs that just don’t work. So what can big data teach us about what works and what doesn’t? And what are the trade offs? Join the Institute of Politics, in conjunction with Results for America, as it hosts an acclaimed panel of leading experts in economics and public policy to explore those questions - and whether Moneyball for Government could shatter our current political gridlock. Panelists: Karen Freeman-Wilson, Mayor of Gary, Indiana Stephen Goldsmith, Daniel Paul Professor of the Practice of Government and the Director of the Innovations in American Government Program at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. Gene Sperling, former Director of the National Economic Council and Assistant to the President for Economic Policy. Moderated by Megan McArdle, Fellow at the Institute of Politics and a Bloomberg View columnist who writes on economics, business and public policy.