Joseph Cordes, PhD, is Associate Director of the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration and Professor of Economics, Public Policy and Public Administration, and International Affairs, and is currently an Associate Scholar in the Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy at the Urban Institute. His academic specialization in economics is in the area of public economics and policy analysis. Cordes serves on the Research Advisory Council of the National Consortium on Nonprofit Enterprise. He has been a consultant to numerous government agencies including the Congressional Budget Office, Internal Revenue Service Office of Research, the U.S. Treasury Department, National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the National Research Council. He received his PhD in economics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. His current research focuses on the economics of nonprofit organizations, comparative analysis of welfare state institutions, U.S. tax policy, and the application of benefit cost analysis to evaluating the economic effects of public policies intended to mitigate risks natural hazards and terrorist attacks.