Open Access Resource
Open Book: Open-Source Budget Transparency for Municipalities
With a majority of municipalities publishing their budgets as PDFs, Open Book offers a free alternative that towns own and run themselves.
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.
Newest
Policy Brief
Engaging Citizens: Participatory Budgeting and the Inclusive Governance Movement within the United States
Article
A Government Both More Secretive and More Open
The U.S. Government has been hiding secrets — and handing us the files to catch it. Mary Graham discusses two rival books, one wild truth: the same Cold War decades that built America’s secrecy machine also sparked the fight for FOIA, honest food labels, and the public’s “right to know.” Turns out secrecy and sunlight grow side by side.
Article
Too Much Information
Transparency isn’t magic: menu calorie counts and credit card disclosures actually change behavior, but sex offender registries and privacy policies often backfire or go ignored — the difference is whether people have real choices and the information is presented simply, argue Elena Fagotto and Archon Fung.
Book
The Arab Spring: Pathways of Repression and Reform
Why did regime change take place in only four Arab countries and why has democratic change proved so elusive in the countries that made attempts? This book attempts to answer those questions.
Book
The PerformanceStat Potential
Article
Does Transparency Improve Governance?
In this study, Archon Fung and Stephen Kosack assess the current state of transparency initiatives across the globe. Honing in on interventions with a focus on “transparency for accountability”—which show mixed results—they develop a framework of five “worlds” that helps account for the variation in outcomes.
Book
Counting Islam: Religion, Class, and Elections in Egypt
Policy Brief
Creating a Future: Using Natural Resources for New Federalism and Unity
Article
Targeting Transparency
In a landmark 2013 Science piece, David Weil, Mary Graham, and Archon Fung coin “targeted transparency”: the idea that governments can hit big policy goals — safer cars, healthier menus, cleaner factories — simply by forcing companies to disclose the right information at the right moment. It’s worked before (think fuel-economy stickers), but the authors warn it can just as easily backfire into empty paperwork. So when does sunlight actually change behavior, and when is it just noise?