John Matsusaka

Professor of Business and Law

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Phone: (213) 740-6495
Room: BRI 101L

John Matsusaka is an expert on initiatives and referendums, politics, budgeting, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate diversification. He is president of the Initiative and Referendum Institute at USC, which studies and tracks ballot measures and propositions throughout the country.

Professor Matsusaka has been a National Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University; John M. Olin Professor of Economics at the Stigler Center at the University of Chicago; and has had visiting appointments at the University of California, Los Angeles and the California Institute of Technology. He graduated from the University of Washington and earned his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.

Professor Matsusaka’s publications include “For the Many or the Few: The Initiative, Public Policy, and American Democracy” (University of Chicago Press, 2004) and "Direct Democracy Works," (Journal of Economic Perspectives, 2005).

Works in Progress

• "When Are Outside Directors Effective?," with Ran Duchin and Oguzhan Ozbas. - (www)
• "Institutions and Popular Control of Public Policy.” - (www)
• "Direct Democracy and Social Issues." - (www)
• "Disentangling the Direct and Indirect Effects of the Initiative Process." - (www)

Books

• For the Many or the Few: The Initiative, Public Policy, and American Democracy, University of Chicago Press, 2004. (Reviewed in Journal of Politics, Perspectives on Politics, and Public Opinion Quarterly.)

Articles and Book Chapters

• "Direct Democracy and Public Employees,” American Economic Review, 2009. - (www)
• "From Families to Formal Contract: An Approach to Development," with Krishna B. Kumar, Journal of Development Economics. - (PDF)
• "Disobedience and Authority," with Anthony M. Marino and Jan Zabojnik, forthcoming in Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization. - (www)
• "50+ Years of Diversification Announcements," with Mehmet E. Akbulut, Financial Review. - (www)
• "Public Choice Principles of Redistricting," with Thomas W. Gilligan, Public Choice, 2006. - (www)
• "The Eclipse of Legislatures: Direct Democracy in the 21st Century," Public Choice, July 2005. - (www)
• “Direct Democracy and Fiscal Gridlock: Have Voter Initiatives Paralyzed the California Budget?,” State Politics and Policy Quarterly, Fall 2005. - (www)
• “Direct Democracy Works,” Journal of Economic Perspectives, Spring 2005. - (www)
• “Decision Processes, Agency Problems, and Information: An Economic Analysis of Capital Budgeting Procedures,” with Anthony M. Marino, Review of Financial Studies, Spring 2005. - (www)
• “Direct Democracy: New Approaches to Old Questions,” with Arthur Lupia, Annual Review of Political Science, 2004. Selected Emerging Research Front paper by Thompson Scientific, April 2006, as "one of the most cited recent papers in Social Sciences." - (www)
• “Budget Referendums and Government Spending: Evidence from Swiss Cantons,” with Lars P. Feld, Journal of Public Economics, December 2003. - (www)
• “Internal Capital Markets and Corporate Refocusing,” with Vikram Nanda, Journal of Financial Intermediation, April 2002.
• “Corporate Diversification, Value Maximization, and Organizational Capabilities,” Journal of Business, July 2001. Awarded Merton Miller Prize for “most significant” paper in JB in 2001. Featured in MIT Sloan Management Review, Winter 2002. - (www)
• “Problems with a Methodology Used to Test the Responsiveness of Policy to Public Opinion in Initiative States,” Journal of Politics, November 2001.
• “Political Resource Allocation: Benefits and Costs of Voter Initiatives,” with Nolan M. McCarty, Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, October 2001.

Other Works

• "Prop. 1A Won't Cure State's Overspending," Sacramento Bee, May 15, 2009. - (PDF)
• "Budget Crisis Is Built on Spending Gone Wild," Sacramento Bee, August 15, 2008. - (PDF)
• "Where Does All That State Money Go?," Los Angeles Times, July 17, 2008. - (PDF)

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