Research
R  E  P  O  R  T 
           

Introduction

This publication summarizes the research produced by the faculty of the Harvard Kennedy School during calendar year 2007. It also summarizes the activities and publications of the School’s Centers and describes new teaching cases, doctoral dissertations, and working papers. The mission of the Harvard Kennedy School is “to train enlightened public leaders and generate ideas that solve public problems.” The School does this partly by conducting research that can illuminate important real-world issues and discover innovative ways to address them. The conduct and dissemination of rigorous scholarship is thus an integral part of the School’s mission. The Kennedy School is a multidisciplinary professional school. Research conducted at the school ranges across many disciplines, methods, and topics and seeks to reach a wide variety of audiences. Some of our research is written primarily for other scholars, and seeks to shape the academic debates that will eventually influence broad social attitudes and future policy choices. Other research products are targeted directly at policymakers or concerned citizens, and these efforts seek to have a more direct impact on a specific policy issue. Much of the School’s research is conducted within academic disciplines—such as political science, economics, sociology, law, or philosophy—but the School also produces a considerable body of interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary research. Scholarship at the Kennedy School is conducted by individual faculty and research staff, and through collaborative efforts in the School’s Centers. This eclectic and entrepreneurial approach to scholarship has been a hallmark of the School since its founding. Academic institutions cannot command respect if their work is not of the highest order; but their ultimate value lies in their contribution to the larger public good. Independent scholarship produces its greatest value when it confronts the core problems of our society, and when it brings cutting-edge research tools to bear upon them. The Kennedy School strives to meet this dual challenge of academic rigor and policy relevance, and the research described in this report is the best evidence of our continued effort to meet that challenge. A few of the books and edited volumes produced by our faculty this year illustrate the range of research that goes on at the school. Merilee Grindle's Going Local: Decentralization, Democratization, and the Promise of Good Governance is an example of political science at its best and most relevant. Dani Rodrik's One Economics, Many Recipes: Globalization, Institutions and Economic Growth is an example of an economist pushing the boundaries of his discipline to understand development and help countries grow. Elaine Kamarck's End of Government…as We Know It: Making Public Policy Work combines the insights of a practitioner with rigorous analytics and sound prescription. Just a few examples from the working papers posted this year by our faculty illustrate the breadth and policy relevance of our research: Hannah Riley Bowles and Kathleen L. McGinn, “Untapped Potential in the Study of Negotiation and Gender Inequality in Organizations;” Rohini Pande, “Understanding Political Corruption in Low Income Countries,” Susan Dynarski and Judith Scott-Clayton, “College Grants on a Postcard: A Proposal for Simple and Predictable Federal Student Aid.” This volume is the second Research Report produced during my tenure as Academic Dean. It is an honor for me to carry on this fine tradition, and to introduce the interesting and important work of our faculty to a broader audience. Mary Jo Bane Academic Dean Thornton Bradshaw Professor of Public Policy and Management