Publications
BSC faculty, fellows, and affiliates regularly publish research in a wide range of academic and policy venues. These include books, book chapters, working papers, articles, cases, and reports. In addition, we have hundreds of blog posts that you can read.
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Featured BookBuilding State Capability: Evidence, Analysis, Action
This book provides evidence of the capability shortfalls that currently exist in many countries, identifies capability traps that hold many governments back, and describes a process that can be used to escape these traps called PDIA (Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation).
Featured Publications
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Tackling Learning Poverty in Sierra Leone’s Education System through the Lens of the PDIA
Guest blog by Irina Bilyalova, Orlando Carvajal, Vaiba Flomo, and Sonali Verma We were four students brought together by a shared interest in solving real-world problems. Three from the Harvard Kennedy School and one from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. One of us was from the United States; three of us were…
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Case: Using PDIA to Transform Waste Management in Amman
In early 2022, the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) faced a growing waste crisis. Given its population of 4.5 million people generating approximately 3,000 tons of solid municipal waste daily, half of Jordan’s total, the city’s rapid growth had significantly outpaced its waste management infrastructure. In response to this challenge, a remarkable two-year transformation using Problem-Driven…
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Can Outsiders Help Build State Capability? Lessons from Ted Lasso
Gaps between potential and performance are common in states across the globe. This paper argues that these gaps represent differences in state capability, and compares Ted Lasso to how outside actors can impact that capability.
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Kindness as a Relational Capability in Collaborative Work
This paper explores the relationship between kindness and increased collaboration. Researchers used a field experiment to test acts of kindness against the level of team effectiveness.
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Can Outsiders Help Build State Capability? Lessons from Ted Lasso
Gaps between potential and performance are common in states across the globe. This paper argues that these gaps represent differences in state capability, and compares Ted Lasso to how outside actors can impact that capability.
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What is public policy success, especially in development?
Success is an abstract concept that carries a variety of meanings with it. In this piece, potential criteria for success is probed in order to allow practitioners to use a broader approach when they define success.
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Managing for Motivation as Public Performance Improvement Strategy in Education & Far Beyond
A paper exploring the idea that management is successful when employees are empowered, monitored less, and “mission motivated.”
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Leading with Intentionality: The 4P Framework for Strategic Leadership
Important characteristics of good leaders are broken down in this paper, providing important insight into the world of effective leadership.
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Governance and the Challenge of Development Through Sports: A Framework for Action
This paper offers a guide for leaders to construct sports policies focused on achieving development goals. Authors suggest employing empirical evidence to inform these decisions.
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Does successful governance require heroes? The case of Sergio Fajardo and the city of Medellín: A reform case for instruction
In this working paper, Medellín is used as a case study to understand how leadership in governance reform can make tangible impact.
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How do governments get great?
This paper answers the question “How do governments get great?” by exploring the multidimensionality of successful leadership. It dives into two theories, solution and leader driven change, and problem driven iterative adaptation.
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Going beyond heroic leaders in development
A three part argument against the “hero orthodoxy” is provided in this paper. A powerful call to action for practitioners to expand past the hero perspective, this piece proposes a more dynamic view inside policy making.
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Who really leads development?
This working paper deconstructs the identity of the “hero” in international development. Through studies from Afghanistan, Sierra Leone and Kosovo, it’s clear that the one-sided persona of a hero is not conducive to actual sustainable growth.