Benjamin I. Page

Ben Page studied history, political science, and law at Stanford and Harvard, and did post-doctoral work in economics at Harvard and MIT. He teaches political science at Northwestern University.

Page cares a lot about foreign affairs -- especially U.S. relations with China -- but he mainly specializes in American politics. His book with Robert Y. Shapiro, "The Rational Public," examined fifty years worth of polls and surveys and argued that ordinary Americans as a group have much more stable, sensible, and well-informed opinions about politics than most elites admit. His research with Martin Gilens won the authors quite a bit of attention -- and an appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart -- because it showed that ordinary Americans have much less influence on government policy making than affluent individuals or organized interest groups do, especially business corporations.

If you check out the Daily Show clip, the sober-looking scholar is Gilens; Page is the relaxed one with necktie askew. Extra points for anyone who can locate the "extended" interview, in which Stewart made his best joke of the evening.

In their new book, "Democracy in America? What Has Gone Wrong and What We Dan Do About It," Page and Gilens dissect the extreme dysfunctions of American politics but then offer hope. Major reforms can be achieved through a broad, persistent social movement.