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DECEMBER 4, 2025 |
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Harvard Kennedy School | | | |
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U.S. marines walk to guard stations at Camp Shorab on September 11, 2017 in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. (Photo by Andrew Renneisen/Getty Images) | | |
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Democracy & governance |
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How “ghost budgets” for military spending increase costs and reduce transparency |
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Hidden costs can make wars more expensive and spending less transparent, according to research by HKS faculty member Linda Bilmes. She discusses her research on United States military spending in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq since 9/11 in a new essay. Bilmes explains that when wars are paid for with borrowed money and special “emergency” funds—a combination of policies that Bilmes calls “ghost budgets”—citizens and lawmakers can’t easily see what’s being spent. Because much of the money for post-9/11 wars was allocated outside the normal budget process, Bilmes says it was easier for inefficiency, fraud, and cost overruns to go unnoticed.
Learn more about Democracy & Governance at HKS » | | |
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What we're watching |
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American infrastructure should be a lot better. Learn why it’s not in a new video with HKS alum Samantha Silverberg. | | |
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Cities & communities |
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Solving problems at the local level |
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Mayors from around the world came to campus for the inaugural Urban Research Conference at the Bloomberg Center for Cities last month to learn and share research for solving the challenges their cities face in sessions led by faculty from across Harvard. A tie-in John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum featured Mayor Cherelle Parker of Philadelphia and Mayor Daniel Rickenmann of Columbia, South Carolina. The Bloomberg Center for Cities’ faculty director, Jorrit de Jong, described mayors as the “frontline problem solvers of the world.” Read more about the conference and Forum.
Learn more about Cities & Communities at HKS » | | |
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Public finance |
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Taking the long view at Treasury |
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Former senior Treasury official and HKS alum David Lebryk MPA 1988, now a Hauser Leader at the Center for Public Leadership, talked to HKS about his more than 35 years at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. “When you go back to 1789 and the foundation of Treasury, the core functions were financing the government, making payments, collecting receipts, and reporting on government-wide activity,” Lebryk says. “There’s a reason why the role of the fiscal assistant secretary is a career-reserved position. You want someone who can take a long view and think deeply about operational excellence and what it means to run these mission critical functions of government.”
Learn more about Public Finance at HKS » | | |
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What we're Doing |
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The Global Climate Policy Program at Harvard and MIT, which is co-led by HKS faculty members Joseph Aldy and Dustin Tingley, played a key role advising world leaders on carbon market integration at COP30 in Brazil last month. The program’s research helped inform a framework for countries committing to establish a coalition to discuss carbon pricing and trade rules. | | | | | |
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