Message from the Editor

Clues, if Not Answers

Graduate schools of public policy often use the case-study method of instruction, because any good case study can focus the mind on how to resolve a tricky situation in ways that might also apply to other situations. An exemplary case study distills many of the economic, statistical, financial, organizational, political, and even personality-driven complications of a major public policy problem into a mercifully manageable microcosm. The case study thus contains clues for solving problems beyond the bounds of the case study itself.

Our two top stories in this issue of RAND Review offer similar payoffs. In what amounts to an international series of case studies, the cover story compares neonatal services across the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, and Sweden. By zooming in on both the health status of newborns and the quality of neonatal care systems in these countries, Michael Hallsworth and Evi Hatziandreu detect systemic strengths and weaknesses, identify how each system of care can improve the quality of life from the very beginning of life, and suggest what the countries might learn from one another — not just about neonatal health care services but also about national health care management.

Likewise, the story and centerpiece about water resources highlight broadly applicable lessons from local case studies. Focusing on the short-term and long-term options available to managers of two water utilities in the drought-prone western United States, David Groves offers encouraging words for water managers across America and around the world who must slake the thirst of expanding populations while facing uncertain changes in global climate. Groves outlines new methods for evaluating water resource strategies despite the uncertainty, for quantifying the value of water-efficiency programs, and for identifying additional strategies to reduce vulnerabilities to climate change.

—John Godges