Putting Knowledge to Use
Pagett says difficulties are inevitable in any endeavor that mixes academic work and real-world consulting so thoroughly.
"You're gong to have problems any time you're dealing with messy real world situations," Pagett says. "But the benefits far outweigh the costs."
Harvard, however, forbids its professors to consult more than one day a week, and US AID refuses to pay more than $455 per day. Most Harvard professors can consult for more, and today HIID employs virtually no professors from the teaching ranks of the Faculty.
With management problems ranging from deficits, to unpaid and disgruntled employees, to scandal that impinges on the international relations of two superpowers, Harvard may well decide the time has come to retire its international consulting operation.
"There is a certain irony," says Kim Kiley, "with [the institute] going around the world advising governments how to do their finances when HIID can't even get its own house in order."