Economic policies are the end results of economic planning: the decisions governments make to influence the production, consumption, and sharing of wealth. RAND research has explored economic policies from the local to the international level, including their effects on international trade and foreign relations, their relation to policies focusing on public health and the environment, and their impact on economic growth and recessions.
REPORT
This binational reference for U.S. and Mexican policymakers presents the interrelated issues of Mexican immigration to the United States and Mexico's economic and social development. Differences in economic growth, wages, and the employment situation between two countries are critical determinants of immigration, and migration of labor out of Mexico, in addition to economic and social policies, affects Mexico's development.
REPORT
A preliminary assessment of the impact of the financial crisis on the civil justice system finds that litigation demands on some parts of the system have increased, that funding for state courts may be trending downward, and that there have been disruptions in the legal services economy, in the provision of legal aid, and in the operation and staffing of courts.
COMMENTARY
Publicly funded R&D investment is a coherent policy to support long term economic growth. Our only note of caution is about how far and how fast that growth can be delivered because the evidence we have is out of date and skewed towards the experience of just one country, write Jonathan Grant and Jon Sussex.
COMMENTARY
Failure to consider the potentially adverse effect of government spending on the preexisting level of aggregate demand was and remains a disabling flaw in Keynesian theory—then and now, writes Charles Wolf, Jr.
REPORT
There has been an overall downward trend in the use of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) wind-tunnel test facilities, and fiscal pressures have increased incentives to cut costs and create additional sources of revenue. The authors explore six potential approaches to pricing the use of these facilities and evaluate each approach against three criteria — efficiency, fiscal impact, and fairness.
REPORT
To inform debate on a new transportation bill being considered, an analysis of literature on the effects of highway infrastructure spending on the economy offers principles for reforming federal policy and programs, as well as ideas for future research.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
This paper proposes a simple methodology that empirically identifies the separate effects of entry and size restrictions on aggregate productivity, and uses it to analyse the impact of a policy reform in India.
COMMENTARY
It's fashionable among academics and pundits to proclaim that the U.S. is in decline and no longer No. 1 in the world. The declinists say they are realists. In fact, their alarm is unrealistic, writes Charles Wolf, Jr.
REPORT
With European governments seeking smart, sustainable solutions to increasingly complex challenges, innovation and learning become essential tools for good policymaking. RAND Europe's annual review, Spotlight on 2010, features many research projects that illustrate the value of learning and knowledge sharing to improve policymaking. It also provides an overview of RAND Europe's activity in 2010.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
This external publication is an online database of short Horizon Scanning Centre think-pieces. RAND Europe updated 25% of the papers on this database, to incorporate more recent policy issues, evidence, and developments.
COMMENTARY
The increasing importance of the G-20 summits is testimony to the growing role emerging states now play in managing the international economy. But integrating these newcomers into the global community is unlikely to be straightforward or simple, writes Lowell H. Schwartz.
REPORT
China is a global actor of significant and growing importance, now integrated into the international system and altering that system's dynamics. The complexity of China's ever-changing global activism raises questions about its intentions and the implications for global stability and prosperity.
REPORT
Will the current global economic recession have long-term geopolitical implications? Assuming that economic recovery begins in the first half of 2010, lasting structural alterations in the international system — a substantial change in U.S.-China relations, for example — are unlikely. This is because economic performance is only one of many geopolitical elements that shape countries' strategic intent and core external…
REPORT
This study of historical experience from an economics perspective explores various crises - from the Great Depression to the stagflation and recovery of the 1970s and 1980s to our current economic woes - and suggests the tools policymakers need to address what may be the worst case scenario.
REPORT
Since the 1970s, federal officials have faced increasing pressure to reduce the size of the federal government and to privatize services traditionally provided by government, a trend that increased under George W. Bush and has harmed government's ability to carry out the nations' business.
NEWS RELEASE
Noted author and political scientist Francis Fukuyama said this weekend at the Pardee RAND Graduate School commencement ceremony that the United States must adapt to a world in which military might is no longer enough, and needs to address its problems at home if it wants to continue to have global influence.
NEWS RELEASE
February 15, 2007 News Release: RAND Study Says China's Attempts at Economic Coercion of Taiwan Have Only Limited Success.
REPORT
Sixteen years after the Soviet Union’s demise, the Russian economy can still be appropriately characterized as transitional. The authors shed light on ambiguities surrounding this status through an exploration of four questions related to issues of interest to government decisionmakers.
REPORT
Pittsburgh and the other communities in Allegheny County depend strongly on each other economically and should work together to bring jobs into the county rather than compete with each other for those jobs.
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