Jonathan Crane is an economist, consulting mainly in the areas of program evaluation and social policy. Formerly he was the Research Director for the Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy, a Principal at the Council for Excellence in Government, a Senior Fellow at the Democratic Leadership Council, a Domestic Policy Advisor to Vice-President Al Gore, and an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois. 

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He has written numerous articles on social programs, social policy and foreign policy for various academic and policy journals. Social Programs that Work (ed., Russell Sage, 1998) identified social programs with rigorous evidence of effectiveness.  He has a Ph.D. in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and an A.B., Summa Cum Laude, from Harvard College.