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Jennifer Pahlka @pahlkadot.bsky.social · 27d

What happens when a team turns a failure into a dramatic success? Sometimes, their hard work and courage earn them a GAO nastygram. That's because the GAO holds them accountable to the wrong operating model. www.eatingpolicy.com/p/gao-gets-s...

GAO gets schooled by the Department of Education

The FAFSA team stands up for itself, and for everyone operating in the product model

www.eatingpolicy.com

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Jennifer Pahlka @pahlkadot.bsky.social · Aug 28

Choose your variety of abundance. It's like having your colors done, but actually useful.
www.niskanencenter.org/abundance-va...

Varieties of Abundance - Niskanen Center

We will know that abundance has succeeded when there is a proliferation of “abundances,” different governing projects attached to previously existing ideologies, interests, and parties.

www.niskanencenter.org

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Jennifer Pahlka @pahlkadot.bsky.social · Aug 23

Thank you!!

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Reposted by Jennifer Pahlka

Colin Camerer @cfcamerer.bsky.social · Aug 20

“As any gardener knows, planting is not the hard part. Gardening is about creating the right conditions: tending and fertilizing the soil, watering, weeding to give seedlings the space they need to grow.

Effective leadership in today’s sclerotic government also requires cultivation”

Jennifer Pahlka @pahlkadot.bsky.social · Aug 20

In which I argue that Weeding is Fundamental. :)
www.eatingpolicy.com/p/better-pol...

Better Politicians

Weeding is Fundamental

www.eatingpolicy.com

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Jennifer Pahlka @pahlkadot.bsky.social · Aug 20

In which I argue that Weeding is Fundamental. :)
www.eatingpolicy.com/p/better-pol...

Better Politicians

Weeding is Fundamental

www.eatingpolicy.com

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Reposted by Jennifer Pahlka

The Niskanen Center @niskanencenter.bsky.social · Jul 7

Per @pahlkadot.bsky.social, “You can’t redistribute what doesn’t exist.”

Successful abundance policies must reduce the barriers that make it hard to access resources AND increase the supply of those resources.

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Reposted by Jennifer Pahlka

The Burnes Center for Social Change @burnescenter.bsky.social · Jul 24

💼 “To transform the operations of the public sector, leaders will need both courage and creativity. Government unions and contractors alike will be uncomfortable." @nytimes.com @robertgo.bsky.social @pahlkadot.bsky.social buff.ly/fS3RQch

buff.ly

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Reposted by Jennifer Pahlka

The Niskanen Center @niskanencenter.bsky.social · Aug 4

You can have government efficiency or you can wage the culture war through administrative policy.

You can't have both.

@gabemenchaca.bsky.social @pahlkadot.bsky.social

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Reposted by Jennifer Pahlka

Ann Lewis @ann-lewis.bsky.social · Jul 10

Government can deliver better digital services—but only if it adopts the right operating model. Our new piece at @niskanencenter.bsky.social with @pahlkadot.bsky.social explains why moving from projects to products is the path to services that actually work. www.niskanencenter.org/the-product-...

by Ann Lewis Ann Lewis

The government could replicate some private sector practices that have provided results like digitizing more services.

www.niskanencenter.org

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Reposted by Jennifer Pahlka

carlmalamud @yeswescan.org · Jun 18

The President Accounts. A 1939 film by The Government. Newly available in the public domain. archive.org/details/FedF...

The President Accounts : Bureau of Accounts, U.S. Treasury : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

On government accounting practices affecting money spent on unemployment relief. President Roosevelt addresses Congress, unemployed men work on relief jobs,...

archive.org

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Jennifer Pahlka @pahlkadot.bsky.social · Jun 13

Bay Area people: I'll be in SF on June 24th and would love to see you at Mannys!

www.eventbrite.com/e/an-evening...

An Evening with Jennifer Pahlka

Abundance is a reform movement to build a better government. Jen Pahlka is one of its leading lights.

www.eventbrite.com

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Jennifer Pahlka @pahlkadot.bsky.social · Jun 10

"I no longer believe that incremental fixes are enough."

I get very excited when leaders like Seemay make big, bold moves like this. More of this, please!

Seemay Chou @seemaychou.bsky.social · Jun 3

We're excited to take this step, and to talk to other folks who are interested in experimenting. If you have something you're excited to try, reply here -- and we might even fund it. asterainstitute.substack.com/p/scientific...

Scientific Publishing: Enough is Enough

Why we're no longer funding journal publications

asterainstitute.substack.com

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Jennifer Pahlka @pahlkadot.bsky.social · Jun 8

This is an excellent explanation of the politics of Abundance, and how it relates to the populist left. Must read.

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/o...

Opinion | The Abundance Agenda Has Its Own Theory of Power

www.nytimes.com

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Jennifer Pahlka @pahlkadot.bsky.social · Jun 6

www.politico.com/news/2025/06...

San Francisco wants to use AI to save itself from bureaucracy

City Attorney David Chiu is working with Stanford to identify and delete old, redundant municipal code sections.

www.politico.com

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Jennifer Pahlka @pahlkadot.bsky.social · Jun 6

"San Francisco’s municipal code runs about the same length...as 75 “Moby Dick"s and counting. No lawyer, or even a team of them, could ever muck out all the redundant and outdated sections contained in it. So City Attorney David Chiu is calling in Stanford’s AI experts to help him out."

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Jennifer Pahlka @pahlkadot.bsky.social · Jun 4

Just like Congress in the 90s, DOGE ate dessert first. The meal is yet to be served. www.eatingpolicy.com/p/what-doge-...

What DOGE didn't do

Sustainable change comes from changing rules and procedures, not just ignoring them

www.eatingpolicy.com

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Jennifer Pahlka @pahlkadot.bsky.social · Jun 4

More on what they should have done here: www.eatingpolicy.com/p/what-doge-...

What DOGE didn't do

Sustainable change comes from changing rules and procedures, not just ignoring them

www.eatingpolicy.com

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Reposted by Jennifer Pahlka

Will Callaghan @willguv.bsky.social · Jun 4

Great read from @pahlkadot.bsky.social as Musk leaves DOGE www.eatingpolicy.com/p/what-doge-.... We have similar problems in the UK government and need action to fix them

What DOGE didn't do

Sustainable change comes from changing rules and procedures, not just ignoring them

www.eatingpolicy.com

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Reposted by Jennifer Pahlka

Bob Sutton @bobsutton.net · May 24

The wise @pahlkadot.bsky.social uses this slide with "Hill staffers who ask me what they should do to improve the performance of an underperforming agency." The key contrast is "something is wrong with these people" vs. "something is wrong with this system." Friction-fixers are system-fixers!

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Jennifer Pahlka @pahlkadot.bsky.social · May 22

Work requirements are welfare for Deloitte.

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Jennifer Pahlka @pahlkadot.bsky.social · May 8

And all of a sudden, the House has a bipartisan Build America caucus!

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Reposted by Jennifer Pahlka

David Dagan @daviddagan.bsky.social · May 1

OK, we've imagined the Abundance omelet. Now, which eggs should we break, and how? That analysis must begin with a grasp on how the law promotes scarcity and where legal tools can crack it. It also reveals the bigger-than-Democrats dimension to this. hypertext.niskanencenter.org/p/building-a...

Building a law of abundance

The artificial scarcity plaguing our economy is deeply rooted in a "law of constraint" built over half a century. How do we unwind it?

hypertext.niskanencenter.org

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Jennifer Pahlka @pahlkadot.bsky.social · Apr 20

No, it won't do that. It can't do that. But also what CAN do that short of Dems winning back power?
In the meantime, we should preserve the remaining capacity of the agencies for meaningful work.

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Jennifer Pahlka @pahlkadot.bsky.social · Apr 20

That was very generous of Marc to name me!

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Reposted by Jennifer Pahlka

Beavers @mbeav.bsky.social · Apr 20

This was a great piece. @pahlkadot.bsky.social gives a measured, reasonable assessment of DOGE’s approach while I scream internally.

Jennifer Pahlka @pahlkadot.bsky.social · Apr 8

Gov nerds, sludge nerds, and nerds of all flavors, you might enjoy this episode of Freakonomics Radio on government's relationship to sludge, featuring:
Neale Mahoney, Benjamin Handel, Richard Thaler, and.... me! freakonomics.com/podcast/slud...

Sludge, Part 2: Is Government the Problem, or the Solution? - Freakonomics

freakonomics.com

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