Shock waves set in motion by the "new federalism" are reverberating in state capitols, county courthouses and city halls across the nation as more and more responsibility for social programs shifts from the federal government to the states. While greater autonomy gives states welcome freedom to experiment with programs suited to their own needs and circumstances, it also greatly increases the burdens on strained budgets and antiquated governance structures.
Nowhere are these stresses more evident than in California. The state and, particularly, its counties and cities need the help of research in restructuring--and making more rational--the delivery of services of all kinds and in devising, implementing and evaluating new programs for health care, education, job training, welfare-to-work, child care, child protection and immigrant services.
Further, state officials need assistance in coming to grips with massive immigration-related demographic changes that threaten to overwhelm such vital institutions as higher education and, in so doing, tear apart the social fabric of the state.
This is help of a kind that RAND in its 50th anniversary year is uniquely qualified to give. In this issue of the Review, we examine some of the ways in which RAND's five decades of accumulated intellectual capital and policy expertise is being tapped to define issues, explore options and propose strategies for solving the problems of state and local government.
The Editor