#  Dana Foarta (Alesina Seminar) 

 



####  calendar\_today Date and Time 

 **April 6, 2023** 

 04:30PM - 05:45PM EDT 

####  pin\_drop Location 

 **CGIS Knafel, room K354**  



 

 



 

 See the seminar's full schedule here: [Alberto Alesina Seminar on Political Economy](/program-political-economy)

###  **Today's Speaker**

 Dana Foarta (Stanford), "Organizational Capacity and Project Dynamics" (joint with Mike Ting)

###  **Abstract**

 This paper provides a dynamic theory of the effects of organizational capacity on public policy. Consistent with prevailing accounts, a bureaucratic organization with higher capacity, i.e., a better ability to get things done, is more likely to deliver projects in a timely, predictable, or efficient fashion. However, capacity also interacts with political institutions to produce far-reaching implications for the size and distribution of public projects. Capacity-induced delays and institutional porousness can allow future political opponents to revise projects in their favor. In response, politicians design projects to avoid revisions, for example by equalizing distributive benefits, or by overscaling projects. We show that higher organizational capacity can increase project size, inequalities in the distribution of project benefits, and delays. The range of capacity levels that produce low social benefits increases with the extent of institutional constraints. This suggests that political systems with high capacity and high institutional constraints are especially vulnerable to inefficient projects.

 *Co-sponsored by FAS and IQSS, the Alberto Alesina Seminar on Political Economy supports research-related activities that integrate the study of economics and politics, whether by studying economic behavior in the political process or political behavior in the marketplace. In general, positive political economy is concerned with showing how observed differences among institutions affect political and economic outcomes in various social, economic, and political systems and how the institutions themselves change and develop in response to individual and collective beliefs, preferences, and strategies*.

 Zoom links for the Alesina Seminar are distributed via the seminar's mailing list. You can [subscribe to the Alesina Seminar Mailing List](https://lists.iq.harvard.edu/mailman/listinfo/ppe_list) here.

 See the seminar's full schedule at the [Alesina Seminar page](/program-political-economy).

 All interested faculty and students are invited to attend.



 

 



 

 See also:- [ Workshops, Seminars & Classes ](/event-type/workshops-seminars-classes)
- [ Alesina Seminar on Political Economy ](/program/seminar-political-economy)
- [ Political Economy Seminar ](/service/political-economy-seminar)
 
 

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