Moneyball for Government: The Book

In 2014, a bipartisan group of current and former federal government leaders and advisors came together to write the national-bestselling book, Moneyball for Government, which encourages government to use data, evidence and evaluation to drive policy and funding decisions.

The book includes jointly-written chapters by former Obama and George W. Bush administration Budget Directors Peter Orszag and Jim Nussle, U.S. Senators Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) and Mark Warner (D-VA), former Obama and George W. Bush domestic policy advisors Melody Barnes and John Bridgeland; and former spokesmen for the Mitt Romney and Hillary Clinton presidential campaigns Kevin Madden and Howard Wolfson. It also includes chapters by former Obama and George W. Bush economic advisors Gene Sperling and Glenn Hubbard, and Obama and George W. Bush policy experts Robert Gordon and Ron Haskins.

The book’s second edition, released in January 2016, features a new bipartisan chapter jointly-written by Michael Gerson, former Assistant to the President for Policy & Strategic Planning under President George W. Bush, and Raj Shah, former Administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development under President Obama. The chapter, titled “Foreign Assistance and the Revolution of Rigor,” calls for data and evidence to drive U.S. foreign aid and provides a roadmap for improving and sustaining foreign assistance programs.

The book also features profiles of innovative government and nonprofit leaders and organizations across the country that are successfully leveraging data, evidence and evaluation to get better results.

Moneyball for Government is about changing the way government works. By shifting public resources toward solutions that are informed by the best possible data, evidence and evaluation, our government can improve the lives of young people, their families and communities. By bringing together leading thinkers from across the political spectrum and highlighting the good work underway across the country, this book makes the case for Moneyball for Government and shows that it’s possible.

Already own the first edition of Moneyball for Government? You can download just the new chapter here.

Praise for “Foreign Assistance and the Revolution of Rigor:”

The age old question is how do you not just treat the symptoms but tackle the underlying causes and actually solve problems. Too often we have taken the easy path of just providing money and then measure success by the amount spent. Dr. Raj Shah and Michael Gerson use their experience to plot a path forward for continued, successful foreign assistance that should serve as a guide for lawmakers, future administrations and public and private organizations as we seek to leverage funds for the best outcomes and assess the impact. We need to build on the incredible results achieved, and continue the success story that members on both sides of the aisle can support. — U.S. Senator John Boozman (R-AR)

There is no one better than Michael Gerson and Raj Shah to examine and explain the revolution of rigor in foreign aid. Gerson and Shah are two of America’s best grounded and most creative leaders in the ongoing efforts to reinvent foreign development assistance into a data-driven, results-oriented success worthy of bipartisan support. From AIDS to Ebola, from the innovations of PEPFAR and the Millennium Challenge Corporation to Feed the Future and DIV, both authors have a wealth of personal experience and considerable insights. Gerson and Shah have practiced the art of partnership – with a new generation of impact investors, innovative faith and NGO leaders, and social entrepreneurs – and from their experiences they point our hopes towards a new era where focused strategies designed to achieve measurable outcomes promise to make U.S. foreign assistance less political, more effective, and as fiscally sound as it is morally compelling. — U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-DE)