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Now showing items 41-50 of 50
Public Policy Failure: ‘How Often?’ and ‘What is Failure, Anyway’?
(Center for International Development at Harvard University, 2018-12)
Observers claim that public policies fail ‘often’. This paper asks, ‘how often’? It is an important question, because public policies absorb resources to address major social issues. We should know if policies are proving ...
Governance Indicators Can Make Sense: Under-five Mortality Rates are an Example
(Center for International Development at Harvard University, 2010-10)
Governance indicators have come under fire in recent years, especially the World Governance Indicators (WGIs). Critics present these indicators as a-theoretical and biased. Critics of the critics counter that no better ...
The Big Stuck in State Capability for Policy Implementation
(Center for International Development at Harvard University, 2016-01)
We divide the 102 historically developing countries (HDCs) into those with ‘very weak’, ‘weak’, ‘middle’, and ‘strong’ state capability. Analyzing the levels and recent growth rates of the HDCs’ capability for policy ...
Development as Leadership-led Change
(Center for International Development at Harvard University, 2010-10)
Development involves change, but many development initiatives produce unimpressive results. The authors ask why and consider how to close the gap between the intended change and what we actually see in the evidence. This ...
Keeping One's Eye on the Ball: Exploring the Intensity of Sports Activities across Europe
(Center for International Development at Harvard University, 2016-07)
As described in Russell, Barrios & Andrews (2016), past attempts to understand the sports economy have been constrained by a number of data limitations. For instance, many of these accounts use revenues when value added ...
Escaping Capability Traps through Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA)
(Center for International Development at Harvard University, 2012-06)
Many reform initiatives in developing countries fail to achieve sustained improvements in performance because they are merely isomorphic mimicry—that is, governments and organizations pretend to reform by changing what ...
Learning to Improve the Investment Climate for Economic Diversification: PDIA in action in Sri Lanka
(2017-10)
Many countries, like Sri Lanka, are trying to diversify their economies but often lack the capabilities to lead diversification programs. One of these capabilities relates to preparing the investment climate in the country. ...
Can one retell a Mozambican reform story through Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation?
(Center for International Development at Harvard University, 2014-02)
Many public sector reforms in developing countries fail to make governments more functional. This is typically because reforms introduce new solutions that do not fit the contexts in which they are being placed. This ...
Learning to Target for Economic Diversification: PDIA in Sri Lanka
(Center for International Development at Harvard University, 2017-01)
Many countries, like Sri Lanka, are trying to diversify their economies but often lack the capabilities to lead diversification programs. One of these capabilities relates to targeting new sectors to promote and pursue ...
Facilitating learning and discovery-oriented industrial policy in Albania
(Center for International Development at Harvard University, 2023-03)
Industrial policy initiatives demand a lot of knowledge from policymakers. Knowledge is often limited, however, especially when policies emerge from top-down technical experts or outsiders with limited contextual experience. ...