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Sarah F. Anzia

Professor of Public Policy & Political Science

Cover of the book Local Interests: Politics, Policy, and Interest Groups in US City GovernmentSarah Anzia is a political scientist who studies American politics with a focus on state and local government, elections, interest groups, political parties, and public policy. She is the author of Local Interests: Politics, Policy, and Interest Groups in US City Governments (University of Chicago Press, 2022), which evaluates the political activity of interest groups in US local governments and how interest groups shape local public policies on housing, business tax incentives, policing, and public service provision more broadly.

Her first book, Timing and Turnout: How Off-Cycle Elections Favor Organized Groups (University of Chicago Press, 2014), examines how the timing of elections can be manipulated to affect both voter turnout and the composition of the electorate, which, in turn, affects election outcomes and public policy. She has also written about the political activity and influence of public-sector unions, the politics of public pensions, policy feedback, women in politics, political parties, and the historical development of electoral institutions. Her work has been published in the American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, and other scholarly journals. She has a PhD in political science from Stanford University and an MPP from the Harris School at the University of Chicago.

Contact and Office Hours

Phone (510) 642-5431 (Office)

Email Email Sarah F. Anzia

Twitter Twitter

Office Office 2607 Hearst, Room 301

Clock Office Hours

Monday (location: GSPP) and Wednesday (location: SSB), 11:00 am to 12:00 pm (sign up here)

About

Areas of Expertise

  • Democracy Policy
  • American politics
  • Local politics and policy
  • State politics and policy
  • Interest groups
  • Public-sector unions
  • Public-employee pensions
  • Women in politics

Curriculum Vitae

Other Affiliations

  • Professor, Travers Department of Political Science, UC Berkeley
  • Senior Fellow, Niskanen Center
  • Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution

Research

Working Papers

Civil Service Adoption in America: The Political Influence of City Employees

Co-author: Jessica Trounstine

Working Paper (May 2023)

Selected Publications

Does Receiving Government Assistance Shape Political Attitudes? Evidence from Agricultural Producers

Anzia, Sarah F., Jake Alton Jares, and Neil Malhotra. Forthcoming. “Does Receiving Government Assistance Shape Political Attitudes? Evidence from Agricultural Producers.” American Political Science Review.

Gender Stereotyping and the Electoral Success of Women Candidates: New Evidence from Local Elections in the United States

Anzia, Sarah F., and Rachel Bernhard. Forthcoming. “How Does Gender Stereotyping Affect Women Candidates? New Evidence from Local Elections in California.” British Journal of Political Science.

Party and Ideology in American Local Government: An Appraisal

Anzia. Sarah F. 2021. “Party and Ideology in American Local Government: An Appraisal.” Annual Review of Political Science 24: 133-150.

Pensions in the Trenches: How Pension Spending is Affecting U.S. Local Government

Anzia, Sarah F. Forthcoming. “Pensions in the Trenches:  How Pension Spending is Affecting U.S. Local Government.” Urban Affairs Review.

Interest Groups on the Inside: The Governance of Public Pension Funds

Anzia, Sarah F., and Terry M. Moe. 2019. “Interest Groups on the Inside: The Governance of Public Pension Funds.” Perspectives on Politics 17(4): 1059-1078

In the News

Articles and Op-Eds

Media Citations

The Odd Timing of City Elections in New York

The New York Times, September 7, 2017

Webcasts

Women in Politics, Public Pensions and Voter Turnout with Sarah Anzia

Women in Politics, Public Pensions and Voter Turnout with Sarah Anzia

Sarah Anzia, Henry E. Brady,

Date: May 8, 2017 Duration: 27 minutes

Surreal Politics: How Anxiety About Race, Gender and Inequality is Shaping the Presidential Campaign

Surreal Politics: How Anxiety About Race, Gender and Inequality is Shaping the Presidential Campaign

Sarah Anzia, Henry E. Brady, Jack Glaser, Jonathan Stein, Maria Echaveste (Moderator),

Date: October 5, 2016 Duration: 56 minutes

National Study of Local Government Pension Costs, 2005-2016

For this research project, I gathered the annual financial reports of roughly 800 local governments from 2005 to 2016, including municipal governments, counties, school districts, and special districts. I used information in the reports to document how much each local government spent on its employees’ pensions each year. This dataset allows us to see what local governments are actually spending on their employees' pensions and how that has changed over time--not just in the places with the biggest problems, but in a large, diverse set of local governments. I have also compiled annual data on local finances and employment from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Governments (SOG) for the same years.

Please note the following: These data on local government pension costs track what the local governments actually spent on pensions from 2005 to 2016, not what they should have been spending. They also do not track the funding ratios of local governments' pension plans. 

A detailed description of the data collection is available here

The data produced from this project are available below. They include (1) the database of local government CAFRs, (2) datasets at the level of the local government, pension plan, and year--one each for municipal governments, counties, school districts, and special districts, and (3) city and county data aggregated by local government and year, complete with corresponding SOG data on local government employment and finances, city and county demographic variables, and more. This third dataset is used for the analysis in my working paper, "Pensions in the Trenches: How Pension Costs Are Affecting U.S. Local Government."

Please cite the following when using these data:  Anzia, Sarah F. 2019. "Pensions in the Trenches: How Pension Costs Are Affecting U.S. Local Government." Goldman School of Public Policy working paper.

This project was funded by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, the Berkeley Institute for the Future of Young Americans, and the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment.

Local Government CAFRs, 2005-2016

Municipal governments

County governments

School districts

Special districts

 

Local Government Pension Expenditure Datasets

Municipal governments

County governments

School districts

Special districts

 

City and County Data by Local Government and Year

Excel (.xlsx) file

Stata (.dta) file

 

U.S. Census Survey of Governments Employment Data

Municipal governments

County governments

School districts

Special districts

 

U.S. Census Survey of Governments Finance Data

Municipal governments

County governments

School districts

Special districts

Last updated on 03/18/2024