Jay Cost, PhD

Jay Cost is a political scientist whose work focuses on republican political thought, particularly in the early American republic. He has previously been a columnist at National Review Online and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and he was a senior writer for the Weekly Standard. 

Cost earned a BA in government and history from the University of Virginia and a PhD in political science from the University of Chicago. His books include Spoiled Rotten, A Republic No More, Democracy or Republic? The People and the Constitution, James Madison: America’s First Politician, and The Price of Greatness: Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and the Creation of American Oligarchy. He is currently writing a book on the Jeffersonian Republicans for the University Press of Kansas.

Disciplines/Field of Instruction

• History and Political Science

Degrees Received

• PhD, Political Science, University of Chicago
• MA, Political Science, University of Chicago
• BA, Government and History, University of Virginia

Published Books

• Democracy or Republic? The People and the Constitution. Washington, D.C.: AEI Press, 2023.
• James Madison: America’s First Politician. New York: Basic Books, 2021.
• The Price of Greatness: Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and the Creation of American Oligarchy. New York: Basic Books, 2018.
• A Republic No More: Big Government and the Rise of American Political Corruption. New York: Encounter Books, 2015.
• Spoiled Rotten. New York: Broadside Books, 2012.

Presentations and Publications (selected)

• March 2026, "The First Amendment and Human Purpose: Religious, Civic, and Progressive," American Enterprise Institute
• October 2025, "Why Free Speech Is Essential to a Republic," American Enterprise Institute
• February 2024, "The Defeated Congress," American Enterprise Institute
• May 2020, "“The Business of Society”: Capitalism, Socialism, and the American Founding," American Enterprise Institute
• June 2018, "“The Humble Members of Society”: Understanding Populism in the United States," American Enterprise Institute
• Spring 2015, "Making Congress Repsonsible," National Affairs

Interviews and Lectures

• “The Founding in Perspective—James Madison.” Lecture presented by Jay Cost at the Jefferson Educational Society, 15 August 2025.

• “Democracy or Republic? The People and the Constitution.” Book discussion featuring Jay Cost and Adam J. White, presented by the American Enterprise Institute, 19 September 2023.

• “James Madison: America’s First Politician.” Lecture presented by Jay Cost at the Jefferson Educational Society’s Global Summit, 7 November 2022.

• “James Madison: America’s First Politician—A Book Talk with Jay Cost.” Conversation with Jay Cost and Yuval Levin, presented by the American Enterprise Institute, 23 November 2021.

• “Constitution 101: Jay Cost.” Lecture on the United States Constitution presented by Jay Cost, recorded 8 December 2021.

• “C-SPAN Radio Podcast: Jay Cost.” Interview examining contemporary American politics, the presidency, the press, and health-care policy, broadcast by C-SPAN, 24 February 2017.