It has been half a year since President Trump announced the creation of DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, headed by Elon Musk. In the 8th episode of the first season, we discussed whether government efficiency is important, what efficiency reforms might look like, and what institutional hurdles and constraints DOGE might face.

 Now that the media focus on DOGE has died down and Musk is stepping away to focus more on his business ventures again, my colleague Dr. Aung Hein and I thought we’d take a look at the last half-year to see what DOGE has achieved and at what costs, how Musk justified DOGE's actions, and what alternative approaches could have been taken.

If you'd like to learn more about Aung's research, visit his website at https://www.durham.ac.uk/staff/aung-hein/.

Sources:

DOGE's Wall of Receipts: https://doge.gov/savings [Last Accessed: 16th May 2025]

The Financial Times: What has Elon Musk’s Doge actually achieved?: https://www.ft.com/content/085430ab-27fe-46fc-a798-1059649d3b32 [Last Accessed: 16th May 2025]

Music: The Good News by SHANTI from https://tunetank.com/track/263-the-good-news/