The central focus of Dr. Balla's research is the structure and process of policy making in China and the United States. He is specifically interested in the ways in which public officials solicit feedback on policy proposals from individuals and organizations outside of government, as well as the nature of the feedback that is received and the responsiveness of decision makers to this feedback. He has published articles in such journals as the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Law, Economics and Organization, Journal of Public Policy, and Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory. He the co-author (with William T. Gormley, Jr.) of Bureaucracy and Democracy: Accountability and Performance (CQ Press), and co-editor (with Martin Lodge and Edward C. Page) of The Oxford Handbook of Classics in Public Policy and Administration. During the 2015-2016 academic year, he served as a Fulbright Scholar at the Nankai University Zhou Enlai School of Government. During the 2008-2009 academic year, He served as a Fulbright Scholar at the Peking University School of Government.