Pietro Nivola Named Vice President and Director of Governance Studies at Brookings

Pietro Nivola, an expert specializing in federalism and regulatory politics, has been appointed vice president and director of the Governance Studies program at the Brookings Institution, Brookings President Strobe Talbott announced today.

Nivola, who has been a senior fellow in Governance Studies, succeeds Carol Graham, who will remain co-director of the Brookings Center on Social and Economic Dynamics (CSED). Graham wanted to return to her research pursuits, and, in addition to overseeing CSED, plans to work on global issues within the Brookings Economic Studies program.

“Carol has done a superb job as the vice president for Governance Studies, having provided crucial guidance to the program,” Talbott said. “I am delighted that Pietro has agreed to take over. He will be working to fulfill the objectives of our long-term plan for Governance Studies and will help the program increase its focus on its core competence–namely, the study of policymaking institutions.”

Nivola’s research and writing has focused on federalism, energy policy, regulatory politics, and urban policy. Prior to joining Brookings, he was a tenured professor of political science at the University of Vermont, where he taught courses in American government, public policy, and urban politics. Prior to that, Nivola was a lecturer in the Department of Government at Harvard University. In the 1980s, he was a research associate, guest scholar, and visiting fellow at Brookings.

He is the author of numerous books, including Tense Commandments: Federal Prescriptions and City Problems (Brookings, 2002), and a co-editor, with Henry J. Aaron and James M. Lindsay, of Agenda for the Nation (Brookings, 2003).

Carol Graham also has a long history at Brookings. She joined the institution in 1988 as a one-year Brookings Research Fellow before returning in 1995 as a senior fellow. In 2002, she was appointed director of Governance Studies. Graham has been a special adviser to the executive vice president of the Inter-American Development Bank and a consultant to the deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund, and has advised a number of governments in Latin America, Africa, and Asia on the design of social welfare policies and social insurance systems. She has written numerous books on developing economies, including Happiness and Hardship: Opportunity and Insecurity in New Market Economies, with Stefano Pettinato (Brookings, 2002).

Nivola’s appointment comes as part of a broader organizational shift at Brookings. The institution also announced this week that its Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy would become the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program, making it the fourth major program at Brookings, joining Economic Studies, Foreign Policy Studies, and Governance Studies. It is first time since 1948 that Brookings has established a new program.