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Featured Publications

Publications may be purchased online, or downloaded for free.

Identifying Fraud, Abuse, and Error in Personal Bankruptcy Filings

Cover Image A digital bankruptcy case filing system, incorporating lessons from the IRS and GSA as well as the private sector, may be on the horizon to help the U.S. Trustee Program better identify and measure fraud, abuse, and error in personal bankruptcies.

Prebankruptcy Credit Counseling

Cover Image Examines the challenges facing EOUST in measuring the effectiveness of prebankruptcy credit counseling for approving and reapproving providers.

Welcome to ISE

Public safety and other public goods increasingly concern matters of homeland security and science and technology policy. Recognizing these mutual dependencies and others that involve physical infrastructure and the environment, RAND has formed a new research division: RAND Infrastructure, Safety and Environment (ISE). ISE consists of four programs -- Homeland Security; Safety and Justice; Environment, Energy, and Economic Development; and Transportation, Space, and Technology -- as well as several centers and projects. More...

The RAND Worldwide Terrorism Incident Knowledge Database Project — May. 23, 2008 Radar map

The Terrorism Incident Database defines and categorizes terrorist attacks in order to help analysts, policymakers, and practitioners understand general trends in the threat. It is based on over 30 years of research by analysts at RAND.

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Featured Research

A Framework for Planning Cost-Effective Rail Security Against a Terrorist Attack — Dec. 11, 2007

Train

U.S. communities depend on reliable, safe, and secure rail systems, but such systems are vulnerable to terrorist attack. A framework developed for rail security planners and policymakers can help guide cost-effective plans to secure their rail systems from attacks.

iconFull DocumenticonNews ReleaseiconResearch Brief

An Economic Redevelopment Plan for New Orleans — Nov. 28, 2007

New Orleans

New Orleans should craft a comprehensive economic redevelopment plan that combines public- and private-sector funding with a centralized structure. Total operating costs could run between $2 million and $3 million per year.

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Stealing the Sword – Limiting Terrorist Use of Advanced Conventional Weapons — Nov. 14, 2007

Missile attack

Nations that are developing advanced weapons need to agree upon anti-terrorist strategies before production begins, or they risk letting terrorists acquire and use the weapons in attacks. Efforts should focus on making security forces aware of threats posed by the weapons and developing safeguards that would render weapons inoperable to anyone other than intended operators.

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Public Investment in Rail Capacity Expansion May Be Justified but Strategy Needed — Aug. 19, 2008

rail transport

The volume of freight transported in the United States is expected to double over the next 30 years. Greater use of rail freight could allow the supply chain to accommodate this increase while minimizing highway congestion and reducing fuel consumption.

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Estimating the Value of Water-Use Efficiency in the Intermountain West — Jan. 10, 2008

River in the northwest

Evaluating the cost-effectiveness of water-efficiency programs can be difficult, because not all the benefits are easily quantified. An economic framework based on two tools from the California Urban Water Conservation Council helps estimate the avoided costs and environmental benefits of increasing water-use efficiency.

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NYPD Pedestrian Stop Patterns Mostly Racially Neutral, with Some Trouble Spots — Nov. 20, 2007

Police officer handcuffing suspect

Pedestrian stops made by New York police officers during 2006 reveal that minorities were frisked more often than whites in Staten Island, and by a small number of individual officers, but stops in most areas of the city show smaller differences.

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Terrorism Risk Modeling for Intelligence Analysis and Infrastructure Protection — Oct. 31, 2007

Las Vegas

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) tries to send money to the areas most at risk of terrorism. The authors applied the same risk model used in the insurance industry, and concluded that the DHS should concentrate its resources on a small number of cities.

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Human Trafficking Problem Hits Close to Home — Oct. 19, 2007

Woman with head in hands

While many of us think of human trafficking—both sex and labor trafficking—as occurring mostly in foreign countries, it is a growing national concern, and one that often hits home in local communities.

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RAND Analyses on Policy Issues in Personal Bankruptcies Benefits and Costs of Increased Water-Use Efficiency in Commercial Buildings - October 24, 2007

This report suggests ways for the owners of commercial buildings to determine how to invest in water-efficient equipment, and uses two configurations of the current RAND headquarters as a case study.

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RAND Analyses on Policy Issues in Personal Bankruptcies The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 - September 12, 2007

This report assesses the impact of a new income requirement outlined in BAPCPA on debtors and courts. Among other findings, it was revealed that similarly situated debtors may have substantially different payment obligations depending on the jurisdiction in which they live.

Full Document Full Document Full Document Related Report Full Document Related Report

Economically Targeted Terrorism — June 27, 2007

stock exchange ticker Acts of terrorism, including September 11th, and statements by terrorist organizations have focused attention on the economic damages that terrorist activities can produce. This report describes the range of economic effects of terrorist activities and provides a framework capturing the full range of costs possibly resulting from economic targeting, as well as recommended defensive measures.

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Should the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 Be Extended?— June 5, 2007

Statue of Liberty

Interim findings from a RAND Center for Terrorism Risk Management Policy project suggest that the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act performs well on outcomes examined for conventional attacks but not for chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear ones.

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Policy Issues for Coal-to-Liquid Development — May 24, 2007

Mined coal

In testimony presented before the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, James T. Bartis discusses the key problems and policy issues associated with developing a domestic coal-to-liquids industry.

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