Hometown Summit 2017

One of the benefits of American federalism is the ability for states and localities to try out new policies, keeping the successes, abandoning the failures, and learning from one another. However, in ideologically polarized times, this system of learning and policy diffusion may be under serious strain. Professor Craig Volden has studied legislatures across the United States to understand why some policies diffuse across states and localities while others do not, and how to overcome biases in order to accelerate innovation. This special seminar is opportunity to consider and debate the role of small cities in prototyping policy and absorbing best practices.