
Steven Pearlstein
Senior Fellow
Contact
Email: spearls2@upenn.edu
Steven Pearlstein is the Robinson Professor of Public Affairs at George Mason University and Senior Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Washington.
For 35 years, Pearlstein wrote about economics and business for the Washington Post, winning the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for commentary for columns anticipating and explaining the recent financial crisis and global economic downturn. In 2011, he won the Gerald R. Loeb Award for lifetime achievement in business journalism. He has appeared frequently as a commentator on national television and radio programs.
Before joining the Post, Pearlstein was a newspaper reporter in New Hampshire, a TV reporter in Boston, a top aide to two members of Congress, and a senior editor at Inc. magazine. He was also the founding editor and publisher of the Boston Observer, a monthly journal of opinion.
At Mason, Pearlstein teaches undergraduate courses focused on economics and politics, including “How Washington Really Works,” which is offered jointly by Mason and Penn. At Penn Washington, he directs the Fixing Congress Initiative.
Pearlstein grew up in Brookline, Mass., and graduated from Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. He is a father of two and grandfather of four and lives in Washington with his wife, Wendy Gray.
Articles and Blogs
- Roll Call Opinion: Senators: It’s time to reclaim you relevance – June 2, 2025
- Roll Call Opinion: Congress can do better than a ‘big, beautiful,’ hyper-partisan bill – April 29, 2025
- Blog: The 119th: Unserious, unprincipled, unproductive – April 9, 2025
- Roll Call Opinion: Democrats had months to head off Schumer’s no-win dilemma – March 27, 2025
- Blog: Trump may be misguided, but he’s not wrong about everything – February 13, 2025
- Blog: Cabinet confirmations just the latest example of Members surrendering responsibility and power – February 6, 2025
- Blog: Trump, Democrats, and the art of political theater – February 4, 2025
- Blog: The problem with Congress is not that it takes itself too seriously but that it doesn’t take itself seriously enough – January 17, 2025
- Blog: Can John Thune Fix the Senate? – January 10, 2025
- Blog: Crop Failure: Why Congress Can’t Even Pass a Farm Bill – December 9, 2024
- Blog: Why Trump’s Recess Appointment Gambit Won’t Work – November 21, 2024
- Blog: Misreading the Mandate, Again – November 12, 2024
- Blog: For Members of Congress, No Penalty for Failure – October 31, 2024