Hal Wolman

Hal Wolman

Hal Wolman

Research Professor


Contact:

Email: Hal Wolman
Office Phone: (202) 994-5713
Fax: (202) 994-8913
805 21st Street NW, Office 615 Washington DC 20052

Hal Wolman was the founding Director of the George Washington Institute of Public Policy (GWIPP) and served in that capacity from 2000-2012. He is an emeritus professor in the Department of Political Science at the George Washington University and a Research Professor in the George Washington Institute of Public Policy. Dr. Wolman is also a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.

Dr. Wolman's fields of interest include urban and metropolitan policy and politics, local and regional economic development, state and local fiscal policy, and comparative and cross-national urban policy and politics. Much of his work is interdisciplinary, drawing upon the fields of political science, policy analysis, and economics. Prior to retiring as a faculty member in the Department of Political Science and the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration, he taught courses on Urban Problems and Policy Analysis, Urban Politics, and Politics and the Policy Process.

Professor Wolman holds a Ph.D in Political Science from the University of Michigan and a Master's in Urban Planning from M.I.T.  Prior to coming to GW in 2000, Dr. Wolman was Director of the Policy Sciences graduate program at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County from 1997-2000. Before that, he was a professor of Political Science and Urban Affairs at Wayne State University. He also served as a Research Associate for the Urban Institute's Public Finance Program from 1978-1984. 

Dr. Wolman also has experience in the world of public affairs and policy making, both as staff director of the House Subcommittee on the Cities and as a legislative assistant to Senator Adlai E. Stevenson. He was also Director of Research for the White House conference on Balanced Growth and Economic Development. He recently served as the staff consultant to the National Research Council's Committee on the Future of American Cities.

Professor Wolman's authored and edited books include Urban and Regional Policy and Its Effects (Brookings Institution, 2008) Governance and Opportunity in Metropolitan Areas (National Academy Press, 1999), Theories of Urban Politics (Sage Publications, 1995), Urban Politics and Policy: A Comparative Approach (Basil Blackwell, 1992), and Comparing Housing Systems: Housing Performance and Housing Policy in the U.S. and Britain (Oxford University Press, 1992). Other research and publications explore regional economic resilience, the effect of national government fiscal policies on cities during the great recession, the determinants of urban and regional economic growth, national urban policy, comparative urban policy and politics, local governments and fiscal autonomy, policy transfer among governments, the effect of population change on urban representation in Congress, city-suburban disparities in income and their causes, the relationship of cities to suburbs, the effect of mayoral change on public policy, and changing intergovernmental relations; as well as specific problems and policies in the areas of urban economic development, urban fiscal problems, housing and community development, urban labor markets, welfare, and transportation.
 


Wolman, H.  “Economic Competitiveness, Clusters, and Cluster-Based Development,” ch. 14 in Pengfei Ni and Zheng Qiongjie (eds), Urban Competitiveness and Innovation, Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA, USA: Edward Elgar, 2014, pp. 229-251.

Hill, Edward W., Harold L. Wolman, Katherine Kowalczyk, and Travis St. Clair, “Forces Affecting City Population Growth or Decline: The Effects of Interregional and Inter-municipal Competition.” in Alan Mallach (ed.) Defining a Future for American Cities Experiencing Severe Population Loss. New York: American Assembly, 2012, pp. 33-85.

Wolman et al. (7 co-authors), “Economic Shocks and Regional Economic Resilience,” in Pindus, N.; Weir, M., Wial, H., and Wolman, H. (editors)Urban and Regional Policy and Its Effects: Building Resilient Regions, V. 4, Brookings Institution Press, 2012, pp. 193-274.

Wolman, H.; McManmon, R.; Bell, M.; and Brunori, D.,  “Comparing Local Government Autonomy Across States,” in M. Bell, D. Brunori, and Youngman, J (eds.), The Property Tax and Local Autonomy, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy Press, 2010, pp. 69-114.

Blumenthal, P., Wolman, H., and Hill, E., “ Understanding the Economic Performance of Metropolitan Areas in the United States,” Urban Studies, March, 2009, pp. 605-627.

Wolman, H., Hill, E., Blumenthal, P., and Furdell, K., “Understanding Economically Distressed Cities,” in R. McGahey and J. Vey (eds.),Retooling for Growth: Building a 21st Century Economy in America’s Industrial Regions, Brookings Institution Press, 2008 pp. 151-178.

Wolman, H., National Fiscal Policy and Local Government During the Economic Crisis. Vol. 1. Washington, D.C.: German Marshall Fund, Urban Policy Paper Series 2014.  2014.

Wolman, H. and Hincapie, D. , National Fiscal Policy and Local Government During the Economic Crisis: Country Profiles Vol. 2. Washington, D.C.: German Marshall Fund, Urban Policy Paper Series 2014.  2014.

GWIPP-Related Research Publications and Papers Since 2012

Weir, M.; Pindus, N.; Wial, H., and Wolman, H. (editors) Urban and Regional Policy and Its Effects, V. 4, (Brookings Institution Press, 2012)

Wolman, H. and Hincapie, D., “Clusters and Cluster Policy,” Economic Development Quarterly, Forthcoming, 2014.

Wolman, H.  “Economic Competitiveness, Clusters, and Cluster-Based Development,” ch. 14 in Pengfei Ni and Zheng Qiongjie (eds), Urban Competitiveness and Innovation, Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA, USA: Edward Elgar, 2014, pp. 229-251.

Wolman, H., “What Cities Do: How Much Does Urban Policy Matter?” Oxford Handbook of Urban Politics, edited by Karen Mossberger, Susan Clarke, and Peter John. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012, pp. 415-441.

Hill, Edward W., Harold L. Wolman, Katherine Kowalczyk, and Travis St. Clair, “Forces Affecting City Population Growth or Decline: The Effects of Interregional and Inter-municipal Competition.” in Alan Mallach (ed.) Defining a Future for American Cities Experiencing Severe Population Loss. New York: American Assembly, 2012, pp. 33-85.

Wolman et al. (7 co-authors), “Economic Shocks and Regional Economic Resilience,” in Pindus, N.; Weir, M., Wial, H., and Wolman, H. (editors)Urban and Regional Policy and Its Effects: Building Resilient Regions, V. 4, Brookings Institution Press, 2012, pp. 193-274.

Wolman, H., National Fiscal Policy and Local Government During the Economic Crisis. Vol. 1. Washington, D.C.: German Marshall Fund, Urban Policy Paper Series 2014.  2014.

Wolman, H. and Hincapie, D. , National Fiscal Policy and Local Government During the Economic Crisis: Country Profiles Vol. 2. Washington, D.C.: German Marshall Fund, Urban Policy Paper Series 2014.  2014.

St. Clair, T., Wial, H., and Wolman, H., “Chronically Distressed Metropolitan Areas,” paper given at the Urban Affairs Association conference, Pittsburgh, April 18, 2012.

Wolman, H., “A Review of GWIPP Research on Distressed Cities and Regions,” invited talk given at Chicago Federal Reserve’s Industrial City Initiative Symposium, Chicago, Feb. 28, 2012.

Wolman's current research interests are in the areas of regional economic resilience and growth, urban fiscal problems, and the structure of local government within metropolitan areas.

National Grants System and Cities During the Great Recessions: Drawing Lessons from a Cross-National Analysis

June 01, 2012

Implementing Regionalism: Connecting Emerging Theory and Practice to Inform Economic Development

February 01, 2010

Using Market Analysis of Home Values to Measure the Economic and Fiscal Effects of Multi-Use Trails

January 01, 2010

Economic Competitiveness of Washington, DC and the Region

June 01, 2008

The Determinants of Residential Employment: A Literature Review

June 01, 2008

Regional Economic Resilience

June 01, 2008

Economic Competitiveness and the Determinants of Sub-National Economic Activity: A Literature Review

June 01, 2008

Regional Economic Resilience

June 01, 2008

Assessing Change in Ohio’s Older Industrial Cities

March 01, 2008

Feasibility Study of Restoring the Significant Features of Fiscal Federalism Publication for the Property Tax and its Fiscal Environment and Structure

August 01, 2007

What Happens After Manufacturing Jobs Disappear? Non-Manufacturing Alternatives for Industrial Regions

November 01, 2006

Significant Features of the Property Tax

June 01, 2006

Foreign Capital Cities and Their Relationship to the National Government: What Washington, DC Can Learn

January 01, 2006

The District of Columbia and Its Lack of Representation in Congress: What Difference Does it Make?

January 01, 2006

The Ingredients for Successful and Vibrant Cities

September 01, 2005

Weak Market Cities: Research for the Brookings Institution’s “America’s Core Cities” Project

May 01, 2005

Soft Metrics for Critical Infrastructure Protection (Research Design)

October 25, 2004

The Effect of State Policy on Urban Performance

September 01, 2004

State and Local Fiscal Systems Face the Future

August 01, 2004

Incidence of the Property Tax

August 01, 2004

Fiscal Disparities among Local Governments in Metropolitan Areas: Their Extent and Causes

August 01, 2004

The Effect of State and Local Fiscal Policy on Local Economic Development

August 01, 2004

Corporate Citizenship and Urban Problem Solving: The Changing Civic Role of Business Leaders in American Cities

July 01, 2004

Intra-Metropolitan Area Fiscal Capacity Disparities and the Property Tax: The Washington DC Region

March 01, 2004

Did Central Cities Come Back?

July 01, 2003

Managing Growth and Workforce Housing in Edge Counties

June 22, 2002

Evaluating the Success of Urban Success Stories of the 1990s

November 01, 2001

Measuring Progress in the Greater Washington Region: 2001 Potomac Index

May 01, 2001

Central City Population Loss and State Legislative Influence: Are City-Suburban Coalitions the Answer?

April 01, 2001

Ranking Areas by Dimensions of Sprawl

January 01, 2001

Defining and Measuring Sprawl

January 01, 2001

Improving the Measurement of Sprawl

January 01, 2001

Focus on Success: How do Children from Poor Families Escape from Poverty?

October 01, 2000