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JULY 2, 2026 |
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Harvard Kennedy School | | | |
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Severe economic conditions and high fuel prices have led to protests and roadblocks in Bolivia this year. (Photo by Aizar Raldes/AFP/Getty Images) | | |
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Development & Economic Growth |
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Understanding Bolivia’s economic crisis and how the country can change course |
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Bolivia is facing an economic crisis. When a natural gas boom brought prosperity in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the government responded by nationalizing industries and squeezing out private investment, killing the engine of growth. When gas prices and production both collapsed, public spending did not adjust, leaving the country to drain its savings, print money, and watch inflation rise and currency rapidly devalue. Research by HKS Professor Ricardo Hausmann maps out a potential path for economic recovery. “The country that dismantled its productive foundations two decades ago is the same country that can rebuild them,” Hausmann and his team write. “The assets were never lost: the lithium, the solar potential, the agricultural land, the hydropower, the landscapes, and the cultural heritage are still there.”
Learn more about Development & Economic Growth at HKS » | | |
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Education, Training & Labor |
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“Fair Workweek” laws work |
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Many hourly workers in the United States juggle unstable schedules and insufficient work hours for low pay and few benefits. A wave of “Fair Workweek” laws passed over the last decade aimed to fix that. New research by the HKS Wiener Center’s Shift Project, led by Professor Daniel Schneider, tracked nearly 90,000 retail and food service workers. The researchers found the laws were effective in a number of ways: employees were significantly more likely to get their schedules in advance, “clopening” shifts (back-to-back closing and opening) declined, and employers didn’t retaliate by cutting wages or benefits. Although results varied by city, and the laws didn’t fully solve problems like on-call shifts or insufficient hours for part-time workers, the findings were generally promising.
Learn more about Education, Training & Labor at HKS » | | |
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What we're Doing |
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Alternate response programs allow city and town officials to divert 911 calls to unarmed response teams, behavioral health care workers, or other resources for community members that need support. The HKS Taubman Center’s Government Performance Lab has designed a toolkit for managers of alternate response programs to help them understand these programs, calculate metrics, and troubleshoot challenges. | | | | | |
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Environment & Energy |
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Committing to climate goals |
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Why do some countries make meaningful progress on climate goals while others stall? New research co-authored by HKS Professor Dustin Tingley argues the answer comes down to credibility: whether governments can demonstrate that their climate commitments are real and that clean energy will deliver economic benefits like jobs and growth. The researchers propose a framework that considers strategic incentives for governments to follow through on promises and structural conditions that make clean energy viable. The framework is especially useful for developing nations, where weaker institutions, limited access to international climate finance, and communities dependent on fossil fuel industries make the transition harder to sell politically.
Learn more about Environment & Energy at HKS » | | |
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