Philanthropically Supported Research

The RAND Corporation is a research organization that develops solutions to public policy challenges to help make communities throughout the world safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous. RAND is nonprofit, nonpartisan, and committed to the public interest.

Philanthropic contributions support our ability to take the long view, tackle tough and often-controversial topics, and share our findings in innovative and compelling ways. RAND's research findings and recommendations are based on data and evidence, and therefore do not necessarily reflect the policy preferences or interests of its clients, donors, or supporters.

Featured Research

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  The Synthetic Opioid Surge in the United States: Insights from Mortality and Seizure Data 2019

  Bryce Pardo, Jonathan P. Caulkins, Beau Kilmer, Rosalie Liccardo Pacula, Peter Reuter, Bradley D. Stein

  The synthetic opioid surge in the United States is a public health emergency. The authors analyze drug overdose mortality and seizure data to better understand the evolution and concentration of the synthetic opioid problem. They find that overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids have increased but remain concentrated in certain states. Drug policy needs to account for how rapidly these potent opioids are upending the old order.

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  Improving the Quality of Mental Health Care for Veterans: Lessons from RAND Research 2019

  This brief summarizes lessons from RAND Corporation research on the quality of mental health care received by veterans across the systems that deliver this care and draws implications for policy and further research.

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  Hacked Autonomous Vehicles: Who May Be Liable for Damages? An Initial Investigation into How Civil Liability Systems Can Prepare 2019

  Zev Winkelman, Maya Buenaventura, James M. Anderson, Nahom M. Beyene, Pavan Katkar, Greg Baumann

  Existing civil liability law is flexible enough to address most hacked autonomous vehicle claims. Manufacturers and operators will need to stay abreast of attacks and take precautions to avoid similar attacks and reduce liability exposure.

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  When Autonomous Vehicles Are Hacked, Who Is Liable? 2019

  Zev Winkelman, Maya Buenaventura, James M. Anderson, Nahom M. Beyene, Pavan Katkar, Greg Baumann

  Who might face civil liability if autonomous vehicles (AVs) are hacked to steal data or inflict mayhem, injuries, and damage? How will the civil justice and insurance systems adjust to handle such claims? RAND researchers addressed these questions to help those in the automotive, technology, legal, and insurance industries prepare for the shifting roles and responsibilities that the era of AVs may bring.

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  Algorithmic Equity: A Framework for Social Applications 2019

  Osonde A. Osoba, Benjamin Boudreaux, Jessica Saunders, J. Luke Irwin, Pam A. Mueller, Samantha Cherney

  The primary focus of this report is understanding how to evaluate the equitable use of algorithms across a range of specific applications. The report outlines concepts of equity from philosophical, legal, and technical standpoints to draw insights that apply across algorithmic decisionmaking contexts for several domains, including auto insurance, recruiting, and criminal justice.

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  Exploring Media Literacy Education as a Tool for Mitigating Truth Decay 2019

  Alice Huguet, Jennifer Kavanagh, Garrett Baker, Marjory S. Blumenthal

  Truth Decay — the diminishing role that facts, data, and analysis play in political and civil discourse — appears to result, in part, from an increasingly complex information ecosystem. This report's authors explore the ways in which media literacy education may be used to counter Truth Decay by changing how participants consume, create, and share information.

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  A U.S. Option Playbook for Contingency Planning to Reclaim Scarborough Shoal 2019

  Lyle J. Morris

  Scarborough Shoal is a small, high-tide feature about 140 miles from the Philippines, yet it represents one of the most consequential fault lines of Chinese territorial aggression in the South China Sea. In this paper, the author proposes a graduated menu of response options for the United States to consider in the event that China undertakes irreversible actions to alter the status quo of Scarborough Shoal.

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  Technology and Work Worth Doing (Not Jobs) Post-AlphaGo: A World-Building Workshop on the Future of Artificial Intelligence 2019

  Ann Pendleton-Jullian, Robert J. Lempert

  This report summarizes a 2018 workshop that gathered a small group of innovative thinkers to engage in an approach called large-scale speculative design to sketch desirable future worlds that could be enabled by artificial intelligence. The workshop was intended to prototype the large-scale speculative design methodology, chart avenues for future research, and inject more focus on human agency into consideration of technology futures.

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  Community Citizen Science: From Promise to Action 2019

  Ramya Chari, Marjory S. Blumenthal, Luke J. Matthews

  In community citizen science, nonprofessional scientists (volunteers) exert a high degree of control over research, working with professional scientists during the research process and performing research on their own. In this report, the authors describe the nature and potential uses of community citizen science. They address implementation needs and challenges, including pathways to achieve policy and community impacts.

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  "The Project May Serve the Nation — But What About Us, Who Live Here?": Villagers' Views of the Dawei Special Economic Zone, an Internationally Funded Infrastructure Project in Myanmar 2019

  Jonah Blank, Shira Efron, Katya Migacheva

  To gain a better understanding of how foreign infrastructure investment in Myanmar may affect local communities, RAND researchers conducted a survey of 250 residents of communities near the Dawei Special Economic Zone. A portion of area inhabitants viewed the project as bringing more harm than good. However, an overwhelming majority favored trying to solve the project's problems rather than terminate it altogether.

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  Contemporary Asian Drug Policy: Insights and Opportunities for Change 2019

  Bryce Pardo, Beau Kilmer, Wenjing Huang

  This report highlights the shifting drug policy landscape in Asia, with a special focus on (1) the violent crackdown on drug users and sellers in the Philippines, (2) Thailand's move toward an alternative approach of reducing criminal sanctions for drug use and improving access to medication treatment and needle exchange, and (3) China's emergence as a major source of many new chemical precursors and drugs that are exported outside Asia.

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  Facts Versus Opinions: How the Style and Language of News Presentation Is Changing in the Digital Age 2019

  Jennifer Kavanagh, William Marcellino, Jonathan S. Blake, Shawn Smith, Steven Davenport, Mahlet Gizaw

  This brief describes results of a study focused on changes in news presentation over time and across platforms, finding a general shift from objective event-based reporting to reporting that relies more heavily on argumentation and advocacy.

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  News in a Digital Age: Comparing the Presentation of News Information over Time and Across Media Platforms 2019

  Jennifer Kavanagh, William Marcellino, Jonathan S. Blake, Shawn Smith, Steven Davenport, Mahlet Gizaw

  This report presents a quantitative assessment of how the presentation of news has changed over the past 30 years and how it varies across platforms. Over time, and as society moved from "old" to "new" media, news content has generally shifted from more-objective event- and context-based reporting to reporting that is more subjective, relies more heavily on argumentation and advocacy, and includes more emotional appeals.

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  National Health Spending Estimates Under Medicare for All 2019

  Jodi L. Liu, Christine Eibner

  This report draws from previous RAND research on single-payer health care to estimate the 2019 spending effects of a Medicare for All plan similar to some proposals being discussed in Congress.

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  Do Differing Analyses Change the Decision? Using a Game to Assess Whether Differing Analytic Approaches Improve Decisionmaking 2019

  Elizabeth M. Bartels, Igor Mikolic-Torreira, Steven W. Popper, Joel B. Predd

  The decision analysis community faces obstacles in moving new methods, tools, and paradigms from theory to practice, partly because of the difficulties in demonstrating value proposition. In this report, RAND researchers use a structured comparison game to examine the value proposition of different analytic inputs (scenario-based versus Robust Decision Making) on a sample U.S. Department of Defense decision about force structure.

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  Countering Violent Extremism in Australia and Abroad: A Framework for Characterising CVE Programs in Australia, the United States, and Europe 2019

  Andrew Lauland, Jennifer D. P. Moroney, John G. Rivers, Jacopo Bellasio, Kate Cameron

  As countries around the world develop countering violent extremism (CVE) programs to prevent homegrown terrorism, there is a dearth of understanding about what types of CVE programs exist and which CVE approaches are most effective. This report documents an effort to help CVE program directors and policymakers place their efforts in context and identify promising approaches internationally.

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  The Evolving Israel-China Relationship 2019

  Shira Efron, Howard J. Shatz, Arthur Chan, Emily Haskel, Lyle J. Morris, Andrew Scobell

  Since the early 2000s, relations between China and Israel have expanded in terms of trade, investment, and educational partnerships. China is interested in advanced technology and Israel's strategic location, while Israel seeks to expand ties with the world's fastest growing major economy and diversify its export markets. In this report, RAND researchers discuss the relationship and the challenges it poses for Israel and for the United States.

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  Database of Literature on Disaster Surveys 2019

  Amanda F. Edelman, Andrew M. Parker, Melissa L. Finucane

  The Consortium for Resilient Gulf Communities is working to assess and address the public health, social, and economic impacts of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico region. As part of that effort, the group conducted a literature review on the impacts of natural and man-made disasters in the United States and created a corresponding database with the results from that review.

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  Artificial Intelligence Applications to Support K–12 Teachers and Teaching: A Review of Promising Applications, Challenges, and Risks 2019

  Robert F. Murphy

  In this paper, the author discusses several ways that artificial intelligence applications can be used to support the work of K--12 teachers by augmenting teacher capacity rather than replacing teachers. He also discusses some of the key technical challenges that need to be addressed in order to realize the full potential of these applications.

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  Consequences of a Precipitous U.S. Withdrawal from Afghanistan 2019

  James Dobbins, Jason H. Campbell, Sean Mann, Laurel E. Miller

  In December 2018, President Donald Trump directed the Secretary of Defense to reduce the U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan by half. In this paper, the authors consider the likely effects of an early and complete or near-complete departure unrelated to a negotiated peace settlement.

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  Better Policing Toolkit 2018

  John S. Hollywood, Andrew Lauland, Dulani Woods, Kenneth N. McKay, Yingzi Zhang

  This research tool is a pilot intended to address needs among law enforcement agencies for guidance on new strategies. Its two broad objectives are to synthesize and disseminate information on policing strategies and to provide agencies with general assistance on implementing novel strategies. Because it is a pilot, it is expected to develop over time with improvements to the research core, content, and presentation and functionality.

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  Evaluating Methods to Estimate the Effect of State Laws on Firearm Deaths: A Simulation Study 2018

  Terry L. Schell, Beth Ann Griffin, Andrew R. Morral

  The authors use simulations to assess the performance of a wide range of statistical models commonly used in the gun policy literature to estimate the effects of state-level gun policies on firearm deaths and to identify the most-appropriate statistical methods for producing estimates. The results suggest substantial statistical problems with many of the methods used in this field. The authors identify the best method among those assessed.

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  Heroin-Assisted Treatment and Supervised Drug Consumption Sites: Experience from Four Countries 2018

  Lucy Strang, Jirka Taylor

  This working paper is part of a series of reports assessing the evidence on and arguments made about heroin-assisted treatment and supervised consumption sites and examining some of the issues associated with implementing them in the United States.

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  Considering Heroin-Assisted Treatment and Supervised Drug Consumption Sites in the United States 2018

  Beau Kilmer, Jirka Taylor, Jonathan P. Caulkins, Pam A. Mueller, Allison J. Ober, Bryce Pardo, Rosanna Smart, Lucy Strang, Peter Reuter

  Given the severity of the opioid crisis in the United States, there is urgency to evaluate tools that might reduce its impact and save lives. In this mixed-methods report, the authors assess evidence on and arguments made about heroin-assisted treatment and supervised consumption sites and examine some of the issues associated with implementing them in the United States.

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  Assessing the Evidence on Supervised Drug Consumption Sites 2018

  Bryce Pardo, Jonathan P. Caulkins, Beau Kilmer

  This working paper is part of a series of reports assessing the evidence on and arguments made about heroin-assisted treatment and supervised consumption sites and examining some of the issues associated with implementing them in the United States.

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