Currently, Drucker's research is focused in three main areas. The first investigates how the regional composition of economies and industries shapes business and economic performance. The effects of the regional environment on business decisions and industry outcomes are important for interpreting and forecasting economic processes and for providing a mechanism for intentionally affecting economic trajectories. Drucker’s work in this area examines the relationships among agglomeration, industrial structure, entrepreneurial competition, economic development policy, economic resilience, and other facets of economic performance.

A second line of research encompasses anchor institutions, which are large, typically public or nonprofit organizations that bind economic activity to a region. Drucker analyzes how anchors’ different external (regional economy) and internal (organizational) orientations influence their economic positions, and evaluates public policies to leverage anchors as local resources. His research in this area includes evaluating the emerging policy of urban innovation districts, the economic impacts of higher education institutions and military installations, and how spillovers occur among institutions and across space.

Drucker also is interested in advancing methods of economic analysis useful for practitioners. He is expert in the practice of economic impact assessment, and has created impact estimates and related analyses for a variety of organizations and clients. Recent research includes measuring the spatial distribution and impact of wage theft in Illinois and gauging the contributions of the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. With the Nathalie P. Voorhees Center, Drucker participated in a multi-year project to assist Illinois defense communities in applying economic data to efforts to capture military procurement spending and to increase resiliency in the face of changing military missions and other economic shocks. He is a co-author of Planning Support Methods (2018, Rowman and Littlefield) and Understanding Local Economic Development (2021, Routledge).

Originally from the Detroit area, Drucker earned a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Economics from the University of Michigan and Masters and Ph.D. degrees in City and Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has been a research associate with the Technology Partnership Practice of the Battelle Memorial Institute in Cleveland, Ohio, engaging in technology-based economic development research and consulting. He also worked with the North Carolina Department of Commerce and the Southern Growth Policies Board on projects ranging from industry and impact studies and economic development strategies to analyses of technology policy and the development and programming of automated economic analysis tools. Drucker was a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners from 2002 to 2022.