Stephen Peterson

Lecturer in Public Policy
Kennedy School
Office Address
124 Mt. Auburn - Suite 100-108
Mailing Address
John F. Kennedy School of Government
Mailbox 126
79 JFK Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Contact
Phone: 617-496-1519
Email: Stephen_Peterson@ksg.harvard.edu
Stephen Peterson

Profile

Stephen Peterson has worked on public financial management and international development for over twenty-one years at Harvard. He is a Lecturer in Public Policy, the Faculty Chair of the Executive Program in Public Financial Management and is a Senior Fellow in Development at the Kennedy School of Government. He is a specialist in public financial management and its reform, with over twenty years of experience as a resident advisor in Africa. He has just completed a twelve year $35 million project in Ethiopia which implemented a comprehensive reform of expenditure planning, budgeting, accounting and financial information systems. Through Harvard's Center for Middle Eastern Studies, he assisted the Ministry of Finance of the Palestinian National Authority and through the United States Treasury Department's Tax Advisory Service; he assisted several governments in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union. His research interests include the design and implementation of public sector financial reform. He has authored several books and articles on public financial management, decentralization, and public management. He holds a doctorate from the University of California at Berkeley and an MBA in finance and management information systems from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Courses

Spr Mod4

  • PED-205M Beyond the Basics of Public Financial Management

Spr Mod3

  • PED-203M The Basics of Public Financial Management

Spring

  • PED-202 The Management of Development Assistance Projects

Media Expertise

Stephen Peterson welcomes media inquiries on the following subjects:

Additional experts may be found by clicking on each subject listed. You may contact faculty directly or if you need assistance contact the Communications Office at 617-495-1115.

Research

Research for a complete list of faculty citations from 2001 - present, please visit the Harvard Kennedy School Research Report Online.

Selected Publication Citations:

  • Book Chapters
    • Peterson, Stephen. "Automating Public Financial Management in Developing Countries." Budgeting and Budgetary Institutions. Ed. Anwar Shah. World Bank, 2007, 323-359.
  • Research Papers/Reports
    • Peterson, Stephen. "Imperfect Systems (IFMISs) in Africa." Paper prepared for the World Bank and CABRI Conference on Budget Management and Public Financial Accountability, June 2007.