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.
Paper
A new paper by Executive Session on Elections and Election Administration members Trey Grayson, Tammy Patrick, Judd Choate, Wesley Wilcox and Al Schmidt advocates for strengthening and investing in state associations to support election administrators year-round.
Newest
Paper
Ahead of launching their community scorecard intervention in 200 villages, the Transparency for Development team surveyed households in Indonesia and Tanzania. This report details the demographics, health conditions, and empowerment levels of the communities included in the sample prior to the intervention. One interesting finding is although respondents rated their local health providers as fairly responsive, very few viewed local government as responsive.
Article
A new OSHA rule, taking effect in 2017, will require large employers and those in high-risk industries to electronically report injury and illness data. Elena Fagotto argues the added transparency will help employers benchmark safety performance and let OSHA target its limited inspection resources more effectively.
Article
The FDA’s new nutrition labels will more clearly show added sugar, calorie counts, and realistic serving sizes, and are being praised by health advocates as key to fighting obesity. However, Elena Fagotto argues these improved labels may not actually help the people who need them most.
Occasional Paper
Book
Policy Brief
Article
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
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
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.