David Weimer is the Edwin E. Witte Professor of Political Economy at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and has joint appointments with the Department of Political Science and the Robert M. LaFollette School of Public Affairs. His research focuses broadly on policy craft and institutional design. Although most of his recent research has addressed issues in health policy, he has done policy-relevant research in the areas of energy security, natural resource policy, education, criminal justice, research methods, and the economic valuation of environmental impacts.

In 2006, Weimer served as president of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management. In 2008, he was elected a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, and in 2013 he served as president of the Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis. He received his doctorate in public policy from the University of California, Berkeley. He is a faculty affiliate of UW–Madison's Center for Demography of Health and Aging.