Economics is a discipline concerned with the consumption, production, and transfer of wealth by and among individuals (microeconomics) and communities or nations (macroeconomics); subspecialties range from economic development and planning to health economics and international economic relations. RAND's many economists contribute to multidisciplinary research projects by exploring the intersections where economics informs social, military, and governmental policy decisions.
Multimedia
The RAND Bing Center for Health Economics, RAND Labor and Population, and the Journal of Human Capital held a two-day Conference on Health, Aging, and Human Capital. Speakers included RAND's Nicole Maestas, NYU's Michael Grossman, and Harvard's David Wise; all conference videos are available online.
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 Our only note of caution is about how far and how fast that growth can be delivered because the evidence we have is out of date and skewed towards the experience of just one country, write Jonathan Grant and Jon Sussex.
Report
To improve understanding of China's investment patterns, the authors analyze recent and proposed Chinese investment in companies in the United States, Europe, Asia, and the rest of the world.
Research Brief
Designed to help U.S. Army personnel more effectively use economic assistance to support economic and infrastructure development.
Past Event
Labor issues, healthcare, education, social programs, and other factors affecting economic development in Latin America were the focus of a two-day conference in Santiago, Chile. RAND researchers joined university colleagues, industry experts, government leaders, and policymakers in discussing a range of critical topics.
Journal Article
Under bundled payments, doctors, hospitals, and other providers share one fee for treating all aspects of a procedure such as a hip replacement or a chronic disease like diabetes. The approach should eliminate unnecessary care and improve quality, but putting it into practice is proving to be more difficult than anticipated.
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
Medicare's payment for physician work and malpractice liability expenses is the same regardless of where a service is provided, but payments differ for facility-related components of care.
Report
To avoid direct military conflict with China, the United States should adopt a parallel strategy that strengthens the defense capabilities of China's neighbors while inviting China into cooperative security endeavors that benefit the interests of both nations.
News Release
To avoid direct military conflict with China, the United States should adopt a parallel strategy that strengthens the defense capabilities of China's neighbors while inviting China into cooperative security endeavors that benefit the interests of both nations.
Report
The authors explore six potential approaches to pricing the use of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) wind-tunnel test facilities, and they evaluate each approach against three criteria -- efficiency, fiscal impact, and fairness.
Report
Discusses obstacles to steering innovation in health care toward activities that are worth their social costs and away from other innovative activities and considers drugs, devices, and delivery, with particular attention to delivery.
Past Event
In this October 2011 Congressional Briefing, Art Kellermann will address the components of health care spending for the typical American family and how it affects buying power; whether slower health care cost growth would increase available family income; and whether the nation is getting sufficient value for its health care spending.
Journal Article
Inclusionary zoning and economic integration in suburban neighborhoods not only reduces concentration of poverty, it directly improves low-income children's academic achievement.
Periodical
RAND Health Quarterly is an online journal sharing the results of recent RAND research areas across a broad spectrum of health-related issues.
Research Brief
Between 1990 and 2009, the number of emergency rooms (ERs) in nonrural U.S. hospitals declined by 27 percent (from 2,446 to 1,779). Economic factors play a central role in an ER's ability to remain open.
Report
This book examines six case studies of insurgencies from around the world to determine the key factors in the successful transition from counterinsurgency toward stability.
Journal Article
The Health Research Board (HRB) has funded research in Ireland for over 20 years. We analysed eight examples of HRB grants from between 10 and 15 years earlier using the Payback Framework to catalogue the impacts.
Journal Article
In developed countries, heavy drinkers consume less in a downturn, while light drinkers consume more. This pro-cyclical relationship does not hold for countries where disposable income is low.
Journal Article
More concentrated health plan markets can counteract the price-increasing effects of concentrated hospital markets; consumers would benefit from policies that maintained/restored competition in hospital markets.
RAND® is a registered trademark. Copyright © 1994-2013 RAND Corporation.