Professor Linda J. Bilmes | Professor Linda J. Bilmes

Biographical Sketch

Linda Bilmes portrait — *Photo Credit: Diana Bowen*

Professor Linda J. Bilmes is a leading expert on budgeting and public finance. She served as Assistant Secretary and Chief Financial Officer of the U.S. Department of Commerce from 1998 to 2001, and previously as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce from 1997-1998. She is a member of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Public Administration (CEPA). Dr. Bilmes holds the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Senior Lecturer Chair in Public Policy and Public Finance at the Harvard Kennedy School, where she teaches courses on budgeting and financial management and leads training sessions for newly elected Mayors and Members of Congress. She is Faculty Chair of the Executive Leaders in Government Program, the Greater Boston Advanced Applied Field Lab and the Harvard-Bloomberg Cities Field Lab, an experiential learning program in which students work on complex challenges facing cities across the country.

Dr. Bilmes has authored numerous books, book chapters, Harvard teaching cases and academic papers including the New York Times bestseller The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict (with Joseph E. Stiglitz), The People Factor: Strengthening America by Investing in Public Service (with W. Scott Gould), and Valuing US National Parks and Programs: America's Best Investment (with John Loomis). Her forthcoming book The Ghost Budget: Paying for America's Post 9/11 Wars (Cambridge University Press, 2027) examines how the United States funded wars historically, and chronicles the budgetary deviation after 9/11 when the US shifted to paying for Iraq, Afghanistan and subsequent military actions through special budget mechanisms and debt financing.

Her core research focuses on how public resources are allocated, particularly with respect to the military, wars, veterans issues, the value of public lands, and state and local governments. She has served on numerous federal boards and commissions including the National Parks “Second Century Commission”, the US Department of Interior National Parks Advisory Board, the US Department of Labor Advisory Committee on Veterans Employment and Training, and a US Department of Treasury commission to evaluate the Inter-American Investment Corporation. She has published widely, including in many academic journals and articles in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, the Atlantic, The Financial Times, Harvard Business Review, Boston Globe, Barron’s, Foreign Policy, and The Conversation, and has testified before Congress on many occasions. She is a frequent guest on national television and radio broadcasts. Bilmes is featured in Charles Ferguson’s academy award-nominated documentary film, “No End In Sight” and in “Rethinking Afghanistan” by Brave New Films. She is the recipient of the 2008 “Speaking Truth to Power” award from the American Friends Service Committee.

Dr. Bilmes is Chair of Economists for Peace and Security, a distinguished body dedicated to promoting non-military solutions to world challenges. She serves on the Board of the Institute for Veterans and Military Families at Syracuse University. Earlier in her career, she was a consultant at the Boston Consulting Group in London and Madrid. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. She holds an AB and MBA from Harvard University and a doctorate from the University of Oxford.

Affliations

Latest News

Breaking News!

Linda is quoted on war costs in the Financial Times, The Big Read: "Trump's empire of debt." (PDF) June 4, 2026.

Linda is quoted on war costs in The Sydney Morning Herald: "How do you calculate the cost of war in Iran?" May 31, 2026.

Linda is quoted on war costs in The Independent: US-Iran war in numbers: Trump’s war costs more than $29bn in three months | The Independent, May 27, 2026.

Linda is quoted on war costs in the Financial Times: Fuel, munitions and food: Trump’s Iran war rips across US economy, May 12, 2026.

Linda's interview on WBUR on the war with Iran: "The real cost of the war with Iran."

Linda's latest column in the Boston Globe on war with Iran: "The real cost of the war with Iran." (PDF)

Linda is quoted on war costs in The New Republic: “This War With Iran Will Cost More Than We Can Afford.”

Linda is quoted on war costs by Nicholas Kristof in The New York Times: “The ‘Arrogance of Power’ Drives War in Iran.”

Linda's war costs research was featured in a column by Paul Krugman, "War Is Expensive for the Little People."

Linda's field lab project with Governor Healey and our students profiled in HKS Magazine: https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty-research/policy-topics/cities-communities/hks-field-lab-works-commonwealth-massachusetts

Read Linda's latest Op-ed in the Boston Globe

Linda discusses her latest research with Cornell Brooks in this Instagram reel.

Linda answers questions about the debt ceiling for Harvard audience.Bilmes Q&A on the Debt Ceiling for Harvard Gazette

See Linda's latest articles on the debt ceiling for The Conversation Is it feasible to balance the budget like we did in the 1990s? and The Brookings Institution Why is Federal Spending so Hard to Cut?

Linda Bilmes will deliver the annual Margolis Lecture at University of California -Irvine on November 15th, 2022 on "The Ghost Budget: Paying for America's Post 9/11 Wars" - a sneak preview of her forthcoming book from Cambridge University Press on the subject of war budgeting and war finance.

Professor Linda Bilmes and Professor Cornell W. Brooks have contributed a new op-ed published in the Boston Globe about rectifying racial injustices in the implementation of the GI Bill: "The GI Bill was one of the worst racial injustices of the 20th century. Congress can fix it."

Have you ever wondered why we spend more money on F-35 cost overruns than we do on school lunches? Listen to Linda Bilmes latest HKS podcast, Policycast: Why our debates about what things cost are so flawed, and how to fix them.

Professor Linda Bilmes was interviewed by Jon Stewart for his podcast The Problem with Jon Stewart about her research on veterans costs and trust fund: The Problem With War: You Break It You Buy It

Professor Linda Bilmes was interviewed by the Associated Press about her research into the long-term costs of the US war in Afghanistan: Costs of the Afghanistan war, in lives and dollars.

Professor Linda Bilmes and the Greater Boston Applied Field Lab are the subject of a short video feature by made by Harvard Kennedy School: The Harvard Kennedy School Field Lab Experience.

Professor Linda Bilmes was interviewed by Harvard Kennedy School about the impact of the American Rescue Plan on state and local governments: "How will the stimulus package aid state and local governments?"

Professor Linda Bilmes and her co-authors have contributed a new op-ed published in the Boston Globe relating to their new study about budgeting models to calculate the costs of quarantine and isolation programs: "Massachusetts should pay people to quarantine"

Professor Linda Bilmes and her co-authors have published a new study that estimates the need for a supported quarantine and isolation program in Massachusetts and describes a budgeting model to help the state calculate the costs of instituting them, compared to the costs of not providing them, for the duration of the COVID-19 epidemic: Estimating the Costs and Benefits of Supported Quarantine and Isolation in Massachusetts: The Missing Link in Covid-19 Response.

Professor Linda Bilmes is profiled by the Harvard Initiative for Learning and Teaching due to the success of the Greater Boston Applied Field Lab that provides students with engaging educational instruction while serving communities at the same time: "Into Practice"

Professor Linda Bilmes discusses the impact of COVID-19 on local governments and small businesses, providing a framework for resiliency, via Harvard Kennedy School News: "Dissecting coronavirus economic impact and recovery options"

Professor Linda Bilmes discusses an influential research study conducted by the MLD-412 Greater Boston Field Lab that calculated the annual cost of driving in Massachusetts is $64 billion, via Harvard Gazette: "Massachusetts' car economy costs $64 billion, study finds"

*Lead author Stevie Olson (right) with Linda Bilmes, who oversaw the research at the Taubman Center.*

Professor Linda Bilmes discusses her new economic analysis of the U.S. National Park system that provides a value to Americans of more than $100 billion, a figure that dwarfs the financially strapped agency, via Harvard Gazette: "National parks' economic benefits put at over $100B anually"

Professor Linda Bilmes, Professor Rosella Cappella Zielinski, and Professor Neta C. Crawford outline the vast potential costs of war with Iran, via Boston Globe: "War with Iran will cost more than the Iraq and Iran wars"

Professor Linda Bilmes discusses recent reserch about the effect of heat on transportation flows in Phoenix, AZ conducted by students in MLD-412, via Harvard Gazette: "Bacow stresses educational, civic partnerships during Southwest trip"

Professor Linda Bilmes discusses the breakdown in federal budgeting and the government shutdown with Kerri Miller, via MPR News with Kerri Miller: "Are government shutdowns the new normal?"

Professor Linda Bilmes and former United States Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs W. Scott Gould analyze the far-reaching effects of the government shutdown, via Barron's: "The Ripple Effects of the U.S. Government Shutdown"

Professor Linda Bilmes discusses the effect of the government shutdown on federal workers with WGBH's Jim Braude , via WGBH's Greater Boston: "How the Shutdown Has Worn on Federal Workers."

Professor Linda Bilmes analyzes the endemic problems with the federal budget process that has resulted in the ongoing government shutdown, via the Boston Globe.

Budget breakdown and government shutdown

In the Boston Globe, Professor Linda Bilmes discusses the memory and costs of Post-9/11 wars, spotlighting new research on the "conspiracy of silence" that enables prolonged war.

Data-mined research on Congressional discussions of war costs

Professor Linda Bilmes discussed recent analyses and projects from the Greater Boston Field Lab with Congressman Seth Moulton and Jerry & Phyllis Rappaport who support the Rappaport Institute of Greater Boston.

Professor Linda Bilmes meeting with Congressman Seth Moulton and Jerry & Phyllis Rappaport

Professor Linda Bilmes moderates a John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum with former National Parks Director Jonathan Jarvis and award-winning Harvard Professor E. O. Wilson, via the Harvard Gazette: "A ‘moon shot’ to protect Earth’s species." Now available on C-SPAN.

Professor Linda Bilmes explains the history of contemporary Congressional budget dysfunction in an op-ed for The Conversation: "Congress’ budget dysfunction is more than 4 decades in the making."

Professor Linda Bilmes discusses why and how government shutdowns happen in an interview with Harvard Kennedy School: "Playing chicken, essential personnel, and budget dysfunction: the government shutdown explained."

Professor Linda Bilmes testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee about contemporary war-funding policies with fellow scholars from the Watson Institute of International and Public Affair's Costs of War Project: "The Credit Card Wars: Post-9/11 War Funding Policy in Historical Perspective"

The Harvard Gazette spotlights the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston's important contribution to Professor Bilmes' "experiential learning lab program," which "has given valuable new budgeting and governing tools to local communities, served as a model for other experiential classes at the School, and prompted hundreds of students to choose a career in state and local government."

“The Rappaport Institute was one of the key enablers for providing a meaningful long-term experiential learning program in which both the students and the local community reaped benefits,” said Bilmes.

New research estimates for Boston’s proposed North-South rail link may bring new momentum to efforts to convince lawmakers to move forward with the project:

Boston Commuter Rail connection gets a new price tag

Connecting The Northeast: A Cost Estimate For The North-South Rail Link

Honored to be appointed by the Secretary General of the United Nations to the Committee of Experts on Public Administration (CEPA) for a four-year term.

Enjoying working with former Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon at HKS this year!

Linda Bilmes: The US $6 trillion bill for America’s longest war is unpaid

Linda Bilmes: Higher defense spending and lower taxes? It doesn't add up - Boston Globe

Linda discusses defense spending on "Greater Boston with Jim Braude" TV show

Linda Bilmes: The $5 trillion wars - The Boston Globe