Jacob Hacker
USABiography of Jacob Hacker
Jacob Hacker, a professor of political science at the University of California, Berkeley, is well-known for his work on social policy, healthcare reform, and economic insecurity in the United States. He was born in 1971 and grew up in Eugene, Oregon. In 1994, he graduated with honors from Harvard University, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Studies. He then went on to receive a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Political Science from Yale University in 2000.
Contributions and Publications
Hacker's first book, "The Road to Nowhere: The Genesis of President Clinton's Plan for Health Security," was published in 1997 while he was a graduate student at Yale University. In 2008, he published his latest book, "The Great Risk Shift: The New Economic Insecurity and the Decline of the American Dream," in which he argues that the American middle class has become less certain about the future over the past three decades. The loss or lack of health and pension insurance, unstable employment, and debt obligations have become a normal part of middle-class life.
Hacker has testified before the United States Congress and is widely recognized as a health care policy advisor. He advised three major Democratic presidential candidates, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John Edwards, during the 2008 primary campaign. Hacker's plan, "Health Care for America," was outlined in a report for the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. It proposes providing affordable health care to uninsured or underinsured Americans, requiring employers to offer insurance to their workers or enroll them in a new publicly-administered insurance pool. Participants in this pool would have the option to choose either a plan based on a federal program that mandates universal coverage or regulated private health insurance plans.
Affiliations
Jacob Hacker is a member of the New America Foundation, a non-profit public policy organization that promotes innovative political solutions. In 2007, he co-chaired the "For the Public's Benefit" conference hosted by the National Academy of Social Insurance. In the same year, the Rockefeller Foundation awarded him a grant for a multi-year project on the "Economic Security Index." He is also an observer for the "Risk Privatization Project" at the Social Science Research Council.
Currently, Hacker is co-authoring a book with Paul Pierson on inequality in American democracy titled "Winner-Take-All Politics: Inequality and the Transformation of American Politics."
