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JULY 17, 2025 |
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Harvard Kennedy School | | | |
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A government worker walks through the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Nathan Howard/Getty Images) | | |
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Public Leadership and Management |
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The size of government matters less than three key elements for optimal functioning |
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HKS Professor Elizabeth Linos, a behavioral scientist and founder of The People Lab at the Bloomberg Center for City Leadership, says believers in both small and big government can potentially find common ground in improving the function of government—whatever its size—for the people it serves. Linos says there are three pillars to a functioning public sector: people, which means working to recruit, retain and support talented workers; process, which involves turning interactions between citizens and government into positive, trust-building experiences; and feedback loops, where agencies use data to examine and improve how they do their jobs. In the latest episode of HKS PolicyCast, Linos talks about how the real choice about government isn’t between big or small, but between function and dysfunction.
See also: Research by Elizabeth Linos and colleagues at The People Lab shows that pipeline programs such as the Presidential Management Fellowship are key in attracting and retaining talented public sector workers.
Learn more about Public Leadership & Management at HKS » | | |
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Public Leadership and Management |
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HKS launches new program to provide full scholarships for U.S. public servants and veterans |
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Today, Harvard Kennedy School launched the American Service Fellowship, a new initiative that will provide full scholarships and a stipend for at least 50 public servants and military veterans to enroll next fall for a one-year, fully funded master’s degree. This fellowship is the largest single-year scholarship program in HKS history, and it will be open to those who have served at least seven years in the U.S. armed forces, including veterans or active-duty military; federal, state, or local government, including teachers and law enforcement; and/or in the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, and other full-time civilian service programs. Learn more and spread the word. | | |
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What we're Watching |
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Professor Archon Fung and the Ash Center’s Stephen Richer talk politics in Terms of Engagement. Watch the first episode. | | |
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Social policy |
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Paid sick leave laws improve coverage for service workers and fewer show up to work sick |
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The United States has a patchwork approach to paid sick leave, with individual states and cities determining their own policies. New research from the Shift Project, based at Harvard Kennedy School’s Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy, examines the effects of paid sick leave (PSL) laws on service workers. Researchers, including HKS Professor Daniel Schneider, analyzed over 68,000 workers between 2017 and 2023 and found that states that implemented PSL laws saw a 14 percentage-point increase in access to paid sick time among service workers, and the rate of workers showing up work sick dropped by about 3 percentage points. The research also suggests that, while modest, even small reductions in sick workers showing up to high-contact jobs can make a difference for public health. However, the study did not reveal broader benefits such as better worker health or greater job satisfaction.
Learn more about Social Policy at HKS » | | |
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What we're Doing |
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Through a 2012 Greater Boston Applied Field Lab, Tomasz Stryjewski MPP/MD 2013 worked with the Perkins School for the Blind. Now he is a physician entrepreneur, developing therapies for blinding eye diseases. Read more about the impact of 20 years of field lab projects at HKS. | | | | | |
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International Relations and Security |
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How nuclear negotiations between the United States and Iran work |
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In recent decades, Iran’s nuclear program has been a concern for the international community, and the United States has a history of negotiation attempts to contain that program. In his second administration, President Trump ordered the bombing of three nuclear sites in Iran. In an HKS interview, former U.S. national security advisor and HKS Professor of Practice Jake Sullivan says, when it comes to the country’s nuclear program, negotiations with Iran are key because “military action can set their nuclear program back, but not nearly as long as a deal can.” Drawing on his experience, Sullivan says, “Nuclear negotiations are particularly challenging because they are both highly political, meaning they involve issues that require political leadership on each side to contend with, and they’re highly technical because they involve an understanding of the nuclear fuel cycle, of how verification works, how nuclear stockpiles work, how centrifuges work. And, you have to keep your eyes on the big picture.”
Learn more about International Relations and Security at HKS » | | |
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