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Welcome to RAND Labor and Population

RAND Labor and Population has built a national and international reputation for conducting high-quality, empirical research to support and improve policies and organizations around the world.

Our work has focused on labor markets, social welfare policy, demographic behavior, aging issues, retirement, and international development with the common aim toward understanding why people make the decisions they do and how markets, society, and policy affect them.

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Featured Event

RAND Behavioral Finance Forum: The Promise and Challenge of Evidence-Based Policy and Practice — Jun 1, 2012

The BeFi Public Policy Roundtable brings together the brightest minds in behavioral finance to discuss research that combines behavioral science and cognitive psychology with economics and finance.

Findings and News

Chance of a Generation: In an Aging Mexico, a Moment of Opportunity to Boost Social Security — May 11, 2012

Mexico is facing the demographic and epidemiological challenge of providing financial security and adequate health care to millions of elderly citizens.

Targeting of SSDI Program Could Be Improved by Reducing the Variation in Initial Determinations — Mar 20, 2012

Though consistency in applying disability assessment criteria is intended, it is not easily achieved in practice. For many SSDI applicants, whether they are allowed or denied benefits depends upon the examiner to which their application is assigned.

James P. Smith Awarded Cozzarelli Prize by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences — Mar 1, 2012

The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences selected a paper by James P. Smith, Distinguished Chair in Labor Markets and Demographic Studies at the RAND Corporation, as one of six published by PNAS in 2011 to receive the Cozzarelli Prize.

News Archive

Featured ProjectsMore »

What Economic and Health Effects Has the Financial Crisis Had on Older Households?

What effect has the financial crisis had on households and health? RAND researchers seek to quantify the effects of the crisis on older U.S. households, and the adjustments made in response. With this information, they aim to determine whether downturns in economic status are associated with declines in health.

Is It Possible to Compare Life Satisfaction Around the World?

To understand what influences life satisfaction in different countries, it is important to correct for cultural differences in how people answer subjective questions. The RAND Center for the Study of Aging is attempting to increase the comparability of response scales across national boundaries.

Recent Research

Challenges Facing U. S. Government and Department of Defense Efforts in Strategic Communication — 2012

Christopher Paul

Abstract

New Findings on the Unbanked in America: Results from the 2011 American Life Panel Survey — 2012

Full Document

How Would Programs Rate Under California’s Proposed Quality Rating and Improvement System? Evidence from Statewide and County Data on Early Care and Education Program Quality — 2012

Full Document

What Will My Account Really Be Worth? An Experiment on Exponential Growth Bias and Retirement Saving — 2012

Full Document

Trends in Risk Perceptions and Vaccination Intentions: A Longitudinal Study of the First Year of the H1N1 Pandemic — 2012

Abstract

Junk Foods in Schools and Childhood Obesity — 2012

Abstract

Intergenerational Relationships Between the Smoking Patterns of a Population-Representative Sample of US Mothers and the Smoking Trajectories of Their Children — 2012

Abstract

Securing the Future of the Social Security Disability Insurance Program — 2012

Nicole Maestas

Testimony

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