Grasso, Patrick G.

(b. 1945, Newark, New Jersey). Ph.D. Political Science, M.A. Political Science, University of Wisconsin–Madison; B.A. Political Science, University of Illinois.

[Page 176]Grasso is with the Operations Evaluation Department of the World Bank, Washington, DC. Throughout his career, Grasso has been concerned with how government affects economic development and human betterment. Over the past 3 years, he has led a team testing various modalities of knowledge management as mechanisms to both strengthen the quality of evaluation work and increase its dissemination and use by practitioners within the international economic development system.

He has focused on the use of public policy as a lever for improving economic performance at the local, state, and national levels. Grasso's work in this area has addressed a number of substantive issues, particularly in the tax policy area, that are not the traditional domain of program evaluation but rather of macroeconomics. His work on employee stock ownership plans as mechanisms to improve economic productivity and provide financial benefits to workers, for example, was groundbreaking in its application of a quasiexperimental design to tax expenditure analysis. A culmination of this body of work came with the publication of a New Directions in Evaluation issue titled “Evaluating Tax Expenditures.”

Grasso credits David Easton's work applying systems theory to politics and public policy analysis for providing a solid framework for his understanding of the forces at work in the policy arena. Ira Sharkansky, Grasso's graduate mentor, has been a continuing influence, helping him to see the importance of thinking outside the conventional terms of analysis; in particular, his work as a graduate assistant on Sharansky's book The United States: A Study of a Developing Country deeply influenced his subsequent thinking on the importance of understanding the hidden continua in apparently discontinuous processes. His work at the U.S. General Accounting Office with Eleanor Chelimsky and Lois-ellin G. Datta were critical in helping him to master the practice of evaluation. Chelimsky's insistence on rigor in design and analysis and clarity in reporting moved his thinking beyond the mechanics of evaluation research to a deeper understanding of the social and political functions of evaluation, especially to the distinction between evaluation and advocacy. Datta's support for thinking unconventionally and applying old methods in new ways opened up many opportunities for Grasso's intellectual exploration and growth, leading to important studies with real impacts on public policy. Finally, working with Robert Picciotto at the World Bank showed Grasso how to put together these many influences—systemic thinking, unconventional analysis, rigorous application of methods and clear communication of results, adaptation and intellectual exploration—behind a vision worthy of a committed professional life, such as the alleviation of poverty around the world.