Governance in Three Domains: Public, Corporate, Non-Profit

Professor: TBD
Units: 0.5
Elective Course
Concentrations: Economic Analysis and Social and Behavioral Sciences; Policy Analysis course for cohort years 2011 and beyond

Governance has increasingly attracted both practical and theoretical attention in three different, not always connected, domains: corporations, government, and non-profit organizations. To evaluate and compare governance in these domains, this five-week course develops and applies an analytic framework built around several principal constructs, including the following:

• accountability (to whom, how frequently, with what powers of enforcement?);
• metrics (for measuring performance in relation to organizational objectives); and
• data requirements (disclosure, accessibility, reliability, frequency, legal obligations, opportunities and incentives for evasion, fraud, or other malfeasances).

One purpose of the framework is to develop separate Report Cards for evaluating governance over time and across the three domains, and among particular firms, government agencies, and NGOs within each domain. The course will include sessions with prominent experts in each of the three flavors of governance. Presentations by fellows in fifth week of course will focus on assessments of governance in one or two specific entities in these domains.