1. INDIANA , 2011
UNIVERSITY
Re:
SCHOOL OF PUBLIC Dear Search Committee Chair:
AND ENVIRONMETNAL
AFFAIRS
I am very pleased to recommend Dr. Donald Hirasuna for the
position. I first spoke with Don about 12 years ago when he asked me
to comment on one of his reports for the Minnesota legislators. We
have kept in touch professionally over the years. We have just
recently decided to collaborate on an article on the EITC and child
support enforcement.
Dr. Hirasuna produces very high-quality, methodologically rigorous,
research on regional economics, poverty and public policy that is
useful and valued by both academics and policymakers. Much to his
credit, his interdisciplinary research is respected and used in both the
academic and public policy arenas. I believe that Dr. Hirasuna is
able to appeal to both academics and practitioners because of his
strong academic training in economic theory and quantitative
methods as well as his twelve years of experience as a legislative
analyst in the Minnesota House of Representatives and his recent
School of Public and
Environmental Affairs 241 work at US Bank where he helps meet Basel Accord requirements for
1315 E. Tenth Street capital reserves with respect to home mortgages and other bank
Bloomington, Indiana
47405-1701 products. His research is grounded in reality – making it useful as
812-856-5926 well as intellectually sophisticated and nuanced. In fact, his
Fax: 812-856-4605 experience with the legislature and US Bank has really honed his
fasr@indiana.edu
ability to ask research questions that truly matter. Because he bridges
the academy and the public policy world, he has the capability to
become a leading academic researcher as well as a leading economist
in public policy service activities. In fact, within the academy, he is
already well on his way.

2. Although he is not a newly-minted Ph.D., Dr. Hirasuna still demonstrates both the
ability and willingness to address many subjects related to poverty, policy, and
regional economics.
Part of this is Dr. Hirasuna’s good judgment in his ability to identify good advice, but
also in his ability to incorporate advice from a wide variety of sources to produce
extremely valuable research. This was particularly true for revisions to a manuscript
which he undertook and I eventually published in the Journal of Policy Analysis and
Management. Another reason is that Dr. Hirasuna’s jobs required him to produce high
quality work that would be respected by academics and public policy officials in
numerous fields outside of his primary areas of specialization.
Dr. Hirasuna’s recent and impressive work on utilization of state earned income
credits by welfare recipients and rural-urban differences in public assistance receipt are
important, groundbreaking articles that will influence research and policy. His work
will and often has a demonstrable impact, which is something that very few others can
claim. Further, as the editor of JPAM, I know that very few articles are accepted (8.7
percent) and that Don easily survived rigorous reviews demonstrating his ability to
produce good research, his knowledge of research related to regional economies and
his capacity to produce well-written documents.
At a more personal level, I like Dr. Hirasuna. He is kind and wise and I would love to
have him as a colleague - unlike some of the contentious, self-centered individuals
who find their way into the academy. He is a calm and reasoned person and I believe
that his maturity, intellect, demeanor and organizational talents would make him an
ideal colleague. He is both a team-player and a team-builder.
Sincerely,
Maureen A. Pirog
Rudy Professor of Public and Environmental Affairs
Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management
Co-Director, Institute for Family and Social Responsibility