An empowered Chief Economist unit at USAID reallocated $1.7 billion toward programs with stronger evidence, showing measurable gains are possible inside a large bureaucracy. But the office was politically dismantled, revealing that evidence capacity must be paired with durable budget authority to survive leadership changes.
— Building resilient, authority‑backed evidence units could improve public spending across agencies, not just in foreign aid.
Santi Ruiz
2025.10.02
70% relevant
Creating a first Chief Economist inside CMS parallels the USAID lesson that durable evidence units embedded in big spenders can improve allocation and oversight; Malani describes advising live decisions, running internal projects, and generating research to steer $2T in health spending.
by Sharon Lerner
2025.08.20
55% relevant
The article shows how leadership can dismantle or sideline existing evidence‑generation programs and replace them with leader‑driven initiatives lacking transparency, underscoring that evidence capacity without protected budget authority is fragile.
Santi Ruiz
2025.07.31
100% relevant
Dean Karlan describes creating USAID’s first Office of the Chief Economist and shifting $1.7B toward higher‑evidence programs before being forced out.
Saloni Dattani
2025.07.21
60% relevant
By noting USAID’s termination of DHS funding, the article illustrates how evidence-generating infrastructure is fragile without protected budgets; it implicitly argues for durable, multi-donor or insulated funding to prevent political swings from collapsing measurement capacity.
2025.07.01
70% relevant
The article frames the science‑funding crisis as dependent on whether courts enforce Congress’s appropriations under the Impoundment Control Act; without enforceable spend authority and sufficient staff, evidence‑producing agencies (NIH/NSF) can’t function even if money is nominally restored.
Santi Ruiz
2025.06.19
55% relevant
UK Biobank’s survival through a 20‑year build phase—when Collins told funders at year 10 that 'Nothing' had been achieved yet—illustrates the need for durable, insulated funding and governance to produce public‑good evidence, echoing the call for evidence units with real budget authority to withstand leadership turnover.