Edward Balleisen is Professor of History and Public Policy. Arriving at Duke in 1997, Professor Balleisen’s research explores the historical intersections among law, business, politics, and policy in the modern US, with a focus on the origins, evolution, and impacts of the modern regulatory state. He has pursued projects with historians and other social scientists who study regulatory governance in industrialized and industrializing societies. Balleisen’s recent book, Fraud: An American History from Barnum to Madoff (Princeton University Press, 2017), emphasizes the connections between capitalist innovation and business fraud, as well as the efforts by private organizations and state agencies to curb the worst economic deceptions.
From 2010—2015, Balleisen directed the Rethinking Regulation Project, sponsored by Duke's Kenan Institute for Ethics. Since 2015, Prof. Balleisen has served as Duke’s third Vice Provost for Interdisciplinary Studies, working with university-wide institutes and initiatives to foster collaborative, interdisciplinary research, teaching, and engagement.