Sam Trachtman reflects on the BESI panel event he moderated back last month.
Sam Trachtman is a senior researcher at BESI, where he leads the research program on the political economy of California. Sam completed his Ph.D. in political science in 2021 at UC Berkeley, where he honed skills in quantitative methods and policy-engaged empirical research. He has published widely in academic journals including American Political Science Review, Climatic Change, Governance, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Nature Energy, Public Opinion Quarterly, and Perspectives on Politics.
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BESI senior researcher Samuel Trachtman shares his top three takeaways from a recent panel discussion featuring California political scholars and practitioners.
On November 13, BESI convened 26 experts on California politics and policy to discuss how to make California more affordable.
Recent publications
White Paper
California suffers from an affordability crisis. Our white paper series explores the drivers of unaffordability in California and presents policy reforms to make the state more affordable. Policy failures are generally rooted in political failures, so we also propose upstream political and governance reforms to help affordability-enhancing measures take hold and endure.
White Paper
July 31, 2026
California, with its progressive tax system and dynamic economy, has some of the highest levels of per-capita government spending in the country. But state programs systematically suffer from fragmentation and complexity. Part 4 of our white paper series argues that, to make the state more affordable, we need to streamline and simplify public programs to more effectively help residents cope with high costs.
White Paper
June 18, 2026
To address its unaffordability problem, California must reform regressive regulations. Time and time again the state has pursued progressive goals through policies that raise the cost of essentials — hitting low-income residents hardest. This regressively funded progressivism is a major driver of California's high cost of living. Part 3 of our white paper series explores how these costly and often ineffective regulations work and offers a path toward durable reform.