Margaret M. Polski, Ph.D.

Associate Professor Wargaming Department
Margaret M Polski photo

Biography

Dr. Polski provides national security analysis and research for senior military leaders and their staff. She has over thirty years of experience helping organizations innovate to address threats, emerging opportunities, and operating performance. Dr. Polski's research is focused on strategic behavior in complex adaptive systems, and includes work in experimental design, game theory, cognitive neuroscience, and computational social science. Her current research interests are related to understanding the behavior of heterogeneous systems.

Contact Information

Areas of Expertise

  • Economics
  • International Relations
  • National Security
  • Operational Warfare
  • Policy
  • Wargaming

Professional Highlights

2017

Associate Professor U.S. Naval War College War Gaming Department

Hired to support war gaming research, teaching, and advising activities in the U.S. Naval War College War Gaming Department. Design research and lead analytic teams to meet the objectives of the senior leadership of the Department of Defense. Co-lead a NATO research task group on innovation in analytical war gaming. Publish unclassified and classified research. Develop war gaming course curriculum, advise personnel on research projects, and serve on doctoral dissertation committees. Serve as a Section Editor for the International Journal of Serious Games, as affiliated faculty in the Center for the Study of Neuroeconomics at George Mason University, and a research reviewer for the National Science Foundation.
2016

National Academies

Consultant to the Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy of the National Academies on improving the U.S. skilled technical workforce, university-led innovation, ecosystem analysis, and understanding vulnerabilities in global value chains.
2015

Technical Assistance

Designed and conducted a comparative study of U.S. military strategy enterprises for the Chief of Naval Operations' Strategy and Planning staff. Provided technical assistance to the Office of the Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
2014

Afghanistan

Embedded with the ISAF Headquarters Afghan Assessment cell in Kabul to support the Commander's strategic assessment and reporting activities.
2013

Syria

Embedded with the Assistance Coordination Unit of the moderate Syrian opposition to assess strategy, planning, and operational activities.
2012

Africa

Provided technical assistance to support U.S. national security interests in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Education

Ph.D., Indiana University, Political Science

M.P.A., Harvard University, Business Economics and Policy

B.E.S., University of Minnesota, Social Science and Management

Related Credentials

Experimental Design

Research Contributions and Publications

Classified War Game Research Reports
2017-Present
War Gaming Department, U.S. Naval War College, Newport RI.

Doing Analysis
2019
With Jon Scott Logel in Graham Longley-Brown, John Curry Ed. 2019. Successful Professional War Games: A Practitioner’s Guide. History of War Gaming Project, London, UK.

A Warfighter’s Guide to Analysis
2018
War Gaming Department Working Paper WGD_20181, U.S. Naval War College, Newport RI.

Extending the Institutional Analysis and Development Framework to Policy Analysis and Design
2018
In Filippo Sabetti and Dario Castiglio Eds. Institutional Diversity in Self-Governing Societies: The Bloomington School and Beyond. Landam, MD: Lexington Books.

An Institutional Framework for Policy Analysis and Design
2017 [1999]
With Elinor Ostrom in Daniel Cole and Michael McGinnis Eds. Elinor Ostrom and the Bloomington School of Political Economy: Volume 3, Frameworks and Methods of Institutional Analysis. Lanham MD: Lexington Books.

Are War Games Quasi-Experiments?
2015
Technical briefing paper for a panel discussion at the 83rd Symposium of the Military Operations Research Society.

Rethinking the Role of Universities in Innovation
October 2014
Background Paper for the Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy, National Research Council, National Academy.

Improving the Accuracy of U.S. Government Debt Estimates
March 2011
Mercatus Center Working Paper No. 11-13, George Mason University.

Truth and Consequences: A Guide to Understanding U.S. Government Debt and Deficits
December 2010
Mercatus Center Working Paper No. 10-76, George Mason University.

Systemic Risk and the U.S. Financial System
2009
Mercatus On Policy Series No. 53, Mercatus Center, George Mason University

Bank Risk Management
April 2009
Mercatus On Policy Series No 43, Mercatus Center, George Mason University.

Wired for Survival: The Rational (And Irrational) Choices We Make, From the Gas Pump to Terrorism
2008
FT Press (Wharton School Publishing).

The Economic Organization of Biomedical Research in the United States
2006
International Social Science Journal. 188:283-297.

The Institutional Economics of Biodiversity, Biological Materials, and Bioprospecting
2005
Journal of Ecological Economics. 53:543-557.

The Invisible Hands of U.S. Commercial Banking Reform: Private Action and Public Guarantees
2003
Elsevier: The Netherlands: Kluwer.

Growth and Change in the New Economy: Opportunities and Challenges
2002
In Audretsch, D. and Welfens, Pjj. Eds., The New Economy and Economic Growth in Europe and the U.S, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.

The New Economy in Germany and the United States: Policy Challenges and Solutions
2002
American Institute for Contemporary German Studies Economic Studies Working Paper 27
The AICGS New Economy Study Group Team
Washington, D.C.: AICGS

Measuring Transaction Costs and Institutional Change in the U.S. Commercial Banking Industry
January 2001
Institute for Development Strategies Discussion Paper ISSN 01-3.

Sustaining Innovation and Growth in Research-Intensive Industries: Early Stage Finance Issues & Approaches
August 2000
Discussion paper prepared for the Board on Science, Engineering, Technology, and Economic Policy, Research Council, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C.

Community Driven Development
2000
In the Poverty Reduction Sourcebook, Volume I, Chapter 9. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank.

Institutional Evolution and Change: Interstate Banking Reform in the United States
2000
Doctoral Dissertation
UMI Company: Ann Arbor, MI.

Local Actions, Better Lives: Decentralizing Rural Infrastructure Services
1998
The Economic Development Institute of the World Bank. Washington, D.C.

Seizing the Opportunity, Meeting the Challenge: Institutional Reform for Sustainable Rural Infrastructure
1998
The Economic Development Institute of the World Bank. Washington, D.C.

Other Honors

Military Cyber Professionals Association Order of Thor
2017

External Memberships and Associations

International Journal of Serious Games
Section Editor

Center for the Study of Neuroeconomics, George Mason University
Affiliate Faculty

NATO Systems Analysis Studies Research Task Group on Innovation in Analytical War Gaming
Co-Chair

Military Operations Research Society

Military Cyber Professionals Association

Society for Organizational and Institutional Economics

U.S. Naval Institute

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