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Jake Haselswerdt

Associate Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, University of Missouri-Columbia
Chapter Member: Confluence SSN
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About Jake

I'm an Associate Professor in the Truman School of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Missouri. My research and teaching focus on the politics of American public policy, especially health and social policy. My work has been published in The American Political Science Review; The Journal of Politics; Milbank Quarterly; Policy Studies Journal; Political Behavior; The Journal of Health Politics, Policy, and Law; and other journals. I am an alumnus of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Scholars in Health Policy Research program at the University of Michigan and the American Political Science Association Congressional Fellowship.

Contributions | No Jargon Podcast | Member Spotlight | In the News | Publications

Contributions

How the Budget Bill Would Make Taxes Worse for Poor Families

Commentary,

House Bill Would Gut Medicaid in Missouri — Even for Those Who Work

Commentary,

Getting Rid of Tax Breaks is Not Impossible - But It is Not a Magic Wand for National Tax Reform

Key Findings Brief,

In the News

Quoted by Nick Mordowanec in "How Trump's Big, Beautiful Bill Impacts Medicaid Users: Experts Weigh In," Newsweek, July 4, 2025.
Quoted by Emily Mullin in "Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ Would Leave Millions Without Health Insurance," Wired, July 3, 2025.
Quoted by Robert King and Kelly Hooper in "Three Reasons Why Republicans Cut Medicaid," Politico, July 3, 2025.
Research discussed by "States with Expanded Medicaid Program Saw Higher Voter Turnout," Newswise, March 15, 2017.
Opinion: "Tax Breaks are Not Immortal – But That Doesn’t Mean Comprehensive Tax Reform is Easy," Jake Haselswerdt, USA Politics and Policy, London School of Economics Blog, August 1, 2014.
Opinion: "Public Opinion about Tax Expenditures vs. Government ‘Grants’," Jake Haselswerdt (with Brandon Bartels), The Monkey Cage Blog, November 9, 2011.
Opinion: "Generations, Life Cycles, and Views of Unions," Jake Haselswerdt, The Monkey Cage Blog, March 10, 2011.

Publications

"Public Opinion, Policy Tools, and the Status Quo: Evidence from a Survey Experiment" (with Brandon Bartels), George Washington University, August 2014.

Uses a survey experiment to demonstrate that Americans prefer policies delivered as tax breaks over otherwise identical programs delivered as traditional spending; also finds that this preference is shaped by the policy status quo, indicating that decades of indirect policymaking through the tax code has substantially shaped the public’s understanding of how government should intervene to solve policy problems.

"The Lifespan of a Tax Break: Comparing the Durability of Tax Expenditures and Spending Programs" American Politics Research 42, no. 5 (2014): 731-759.
Finds that tax breaks are actually less durable than regular spending programs over time, and I argue that this requires us to revise the conventional wisdom about tax policy.
"Hybrid Federalism, Partisan Politics, and Early Implementation of State Health Insurance Exchanges" (with Elizabeth Rigby). Publius: The Journal of Federalism 43, no. 3 (2013): 368-391.
Uses an original data set to model states’ progress in the implementation of state-based health insurance exchanges and find that ideological and partisan considerations strongly influence a state’s likelihood of moving forward, but that these political influences take place within a complex strategic environment structured by the ACA’s policy design.