The “Revolt in Dullsville” Revisited: Lessons for Theory, Practice, and Research from the American State Administrators Project, 1964–2008

How bureaucratic leadership shapes policy outcomes: partisan politics and affluent citizens’ incomes in the American states

“…It is firmly accepted that executive agency heads in the American states play a vital role in shaping public policies (e.g. Schneider et al 1997;Bowling and Wright 1998, 431;Brudney and Wright 2010;Boushey and McGrath 2017). In this study, we argue that when agency heads are not highly capable, political institutions find it difficult to coordinate their policy intentions through layers of the administrative state and, thus, considerable slippage may exist between politicians' policy objectives and actual policy outcomes.…”

“…Second, state agency heads play a key role in resource allocation decisions (Bowling and Wright 1998;Brudney and Wright 2010). The allocation of these resources can affect the most affluent incomes as state agency heads play a critical role in determining which clientele groups obtain benefits from the those that do not.…”

“…The importance of the relationship between compensation and robust administrative capacity in state government is a long-standing concern voiced by professional associations representing state administrators focussing on the recruitment and retention of skilled individuals (National Association of State Personnel Executives 2013, 2016). This problem has been exacerbated through time for state executive agency heads since they have the highest turnover, as well as the most attractive outside market opportunities (Bowling and Wright 1998, 439;Brudney and Wright 2010). In response to these pressures, Boushey and McGrath (2017, 90-91) chronicle the surge in state executive agency heads' compensation levels in recent decades.…”

“…Survey evidence consistently shows that these policy actors spend approximately half of their work effort on political and policy activities external to the agency, while the remaining half is spent on internal management and policy guidance within the agency (e.g.Bowling and Wright 1998, 435;Brudney and Wright 2010; see also, Abney and Lauth 1986).…”

The American State Administrators Project: A New 50‐State, 50‐Year Data Resource for Scholars

“…Bureaucrats mattered, and, what is more, they were interesting . In one of his last articles before his death in 2009, Professor Wright cheekily nodded to the assumption that to study state agency decision‐making was to be exiled in “dullsville” (Brudney and Wright 2010). For him, it was anything but dull, and indeed he devoted his entire professional life to carefully compiling a remarkable survey‐based dataset of state agency leaders that allows us to trace the evolution of the modern bureaucracy over time, across agencies, and across all 50 states.…”