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.
Article
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.
Newest
Article
Cap-and-trade bills can take years to pass — but a disclosure rule could pass tomorrow. Elena Fagotto and Mary Graham point to a 1984 chemical disaster that led to mandatory US toxic-emissions reporting and cut pollution nearly in half within a decade. Could the same trick work on greenhouse gases?
Policy Brief
Congress was debating climate bills that wouldn’t take effect for half a decade — meanwhile emissions kept climbing. Mary Graham and Elena Fagotto had a faster fix: make every factory and product disclose its greenhouse gas emissions now. It had already worked once before, after a very different disaster.
Book
Full Disclosure explores how transparency policies, like corporate disclosures and nutritional labels, can empower citizens and improve governance, but often fall short due to incomplete or irrelevant information, offering insights into making them more effective.
Book
Book
Book
Policy Brief
Article
A last-minute rider that even the EPA and environmental groups shrugged off turned into one of the most quietly powerful pollution laws in US history. Mary Graham and Catherine Miller revisit the Toxics Release Inventory’s famous 46 percent decline — and find the real story is a lot messier than the headline number suggests.
Article
Cholesterol-fighting margarine, genetically engineered vegetables, soup laced with St. John’s wort — new “disease-fighting” foods were hitting shelves faster than shoppers (or regulators) could keep up. David Greenberg and Mary Graham argue the real risk isn’t the science, it’s the silence around it.