Institute of Development Studies

Biography

Dr Stephen Peterson has worked on public financial management and international development for over twenty-five years at Harvard University and is now a fellow at IDS. He is a specialist in public financial management and its reform, with over twenty-one years of experience as a resident advisor in Africa. In 2008 he 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, decentralisation, and public management. He holds a doctorate for the University of California at Berkeley and an MBA in finance and management information systems from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Selected Projects and Recent Work

• The Governance of Service Delivery

Geographic Expertise

Ethiopia; Kenya; Malawi; Mexico; Nigeria; Palestinian Territory; Philippines; Poland; Rwanda; Tunisia; Uganda; United States.

Selected Publications »»

• Peterson, S. (2011) 'Plateaus not Summits: Reforming Public Financial Management in Africa', Public Administration and Development 31.3:205-213
• Peterson, S. (2011) 'Why it Worked: Critical Success Factors of a Financial Reform Project in Africa', Faculty Research Working Paper Series RWP 11-019, Harvard Kennedy School
• Peterson, S. (2010) 'Reforming Public Financial Management in Africa', Faculty Research Working Paper Series RWP 10-048, Harvard Kennedy School
• Peterson, S. (2010) 'Rethinking the Millennium Development Goals for Africa' , The African Child Policy Forum
• Peterson, S. (2007) 'Automating Public Financial Management in Developing Countries' in Shah, A. (eds), Budgeting and Budgetary Institutions, Washington, D.C.: The World Bank
• Peterson, S. (2001) 'Financial Reform in a Devolved African Country: Lessons from Ethiopia', Public Administration and Development 21:131-148, Wiley
• Peterson, S. (2000) 'Another Path to Customs Reform: Mexico’s Second Inspection', International Journal of Public Administration 23.12:2107-2132, Taylor and Francis