Thomas Light is a senior economist at the RAND Corporation and a member of the Pardee RAND Graduate School faculty. His research spans a variety of areas including military acquisition, cost, and logistics issues as well as transportation and energy policy. Examples of Light's research include an analysis of cost and schedule growth for military acquistion programs; a study of the effects of restructuring Air Force aircraft maintenance career fields; an assessment of the benefits and costs of speeding up highway expansion projects in Southern California; an analysis of alternative policy options for reducing domestic greenhouse gas emissions; an evaluation of strategies for reducing domestic oil consumption; and a review of equity concerns associated with congestion pricing. In addition to his research activities at RAND, Light has taught public finance at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. He received his Ph.D. in economics from Cornell University.
Selected Publications
Light, Thomas, Daniel M. Romano, Michael Kennedy, Caolionn O'Connell, and Sean Bednarz, Consolidating Air Force Maintenance Occupational Specialties, RAND Corporation (RR-1307), 2016
Boito, Michael, Thomas Light, Patrick Mills, and Laura H. Baldwin, Managing U.S. Air Force Aircraft Operating and Support Costs: Insights from Recent RAND Analysis and Opportunities for the Future, RAND Corporation (RR-1077), 2016
T. Light, "Optimal Highway Design and User Welfare Under Value Pricing," Journal of Urban Economics, 66(2), 2009
Ecola, Liisa, Thomas Light, Equity and Congestion Pricing: A Review of the Evidence, RAND Corporation (TR-680), 2009