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Research & Resources

Through our books, case studies, journal articles, papers, and surveys, the Ash Center is home to some of the world’s most advanced research and publications on issues related to democratic governance and self-governance.

To explore all research authored by Ash Center faculty, please visit the Harvard Kennedy School website. You can view the Ash Center’s open access policy here.

Captiol building with trend graphic

Additional Resource

How Americans Navigate Voting Information Ahead of the 2026 Midterm Elections

The Shorenstein Center’s 2026 Voting Information Trends project—developed in collaboration with the National Internet Observatory at Northeastern University, the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation’s Program on Democracy and the Informed Public, and The Civic Health and Institutions Project—provides new insights into the voter information landscape in the United States ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

Among the resources, an interactive dashboard maps where Americans are finding voting information and learning about key aspects of the voting process—from sourcing polling locations to voter registration. Also included are a series of trends reports gauging perceptions of voting in the lead up to the 2026 midterm elections.

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How A.I. Can Be Good For Democracy

Additional Resource

How A.I. Can Be Good For Democracy

In a recent guest essay for The New York Times, Allen Lab Democracy Stack Fellow Beth Noveck argues for putting A.I. behind every public servant.

Improving the Pipeline of Election Officials
A poll worker consulting a clipboard on a table.

Paper

Improving the Pipeline of Election Officials

Members of the Ash Center’s Executive Session on Elections and Election Administration present a comprehensive strategy to recruit, support, and retain election administrators by reducing barriers to entry, strengthening professional networks, improving workplace support, and utilizing workforce data address burnout and prevent attrition.

How Americans Navigate Voting Information Ahead of the 2026 Midterm Elections
Captiol building with trend graphic

Additional Resource

How Americans Navigate Voting Information Ahead of the 2026 Midterm Elections

The Shorenstein Center’s 2026 Voting Information Trends project—developed in collaboration with the National Internet Observatory at Northeastern University, the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation’s Program on Democracy and the Informed Public, and The Civic Health and Institutions Project—provides new insights into the voter information landscape in the United States ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

Among the resources, an interactive dashboard maps where Americans are finding voting information and learning about key aspects of the voting process—from sourcing polling locations to voter registration. Also included are a series of trends reports gauging perceptions of voting in the lead up to the 2026 midterm elections.

Digital Civic Infrastructure Initiative

Digital Civic Infrastructure Initiative

The Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation’s Digital Civic Infrastructure initiative aims to understand how technology can strengthen democratic agency through improving how civic voice is developed and gathered, how public input becomes policy, and how decisions get enforced and services delivered.

Open Course: Designing Democratic Engagement with AI

Open Access Resource

Open Course: Designing Democratic Engagement with AI

This free, self-paced course equips public officials with the skills to design, run and learn from meaningful engagement with communities.

Reimagining public understanding: Toward an institutional model
Two hands touching over a science network connection symbol.

Article

Reimagining public understanding: Toward an institutional model

In a new research article, Democracy Visiting Fellow Gordon Gauchat and co-author Kassandra Thompson offer an alternative framework for public understanding of science, focusing on “science’s role as a social system” shaped by institutional norms and practices, rather than traditional approaches centered on knowledge possession or trust in experts.

Raising Wages by Changing Norms: Work Policy for the Long Game
Protest for raising the minimum wage

Paper

Raising Wages by Changing Norms: Work Policy for the Long Game

When Amazon announced a company-wide $15 minimum wage in 2018, the obvious assumption was that every competitor fighting for the same workers would have to match it or lose their workforce. They didn’t. Despite dramatic wage jumps at the companies that voluntarily raised their floors — and real cuts to turnover and hiring costs that made the move pay for itself — researchers find zero evidence of wage spillovers to the “poacher” and “feeder” companies competing in the very same local labor markets. The explanation turns out to say less about generosity than about just how much leverage employers hold over workers who have nowhere else to go.