Philanthropically Supported Research

RAND 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

564 Results

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Mar 16, 2023

America's Opioid Ecosystem: How Leveraging System Interactions Can Help Curb Addiction, Overdose, and Other Harms

Patterns and consequences of opioid use are changing dramatically. Researchers provide a nuanced assessment of America's opioid ecosystem, highlighting how leveraging system interactions can reduce addiction, overdose, suffering, and other harms.

Bradley D. Stein, Beau Kilmer, Jirka Taylor, Mary E. Vaiana, Dionne Barnes-Proby, Jonathan P. Caulkins, Lois M. Davis, Michael Dworsky, Susan M. Gates, Martin Y. Iguchi, Karen Chan Osilla, Rosalie Liccardo Pacula, Bryce Pardo, Tisamarie B. Sherry, Sierra Smucker
Mar 3, 2023

Quantifying the link between COVID-19, conflict risk, and the global economy

Our research suggests that COVID-19 will significantly increase the risk of civil conflict in African countries. We estimate this effect will, in turn, have negative global repercussions via international trade losses.

Grant Johnson, Sean M. Zeigler, Marco Hafner, Catherine Galley
Feb 21, 2023

Staying the Unfavorable Course: National Security Council Decisionmaking and the Inertia of U.S. Afghanistan Policy, 2001–2016

The authors examined the reasons behind the inertia of the U.S. policy objective in Afghanistan through interviews with the senior leaders involved in policy deliberations between 2001 and 2016.

Matthew Sargent, Jason H. Campbell, Alexandra T. Evans, Caitlin McCulloch, Jordan R. Reimer, Richard S. Girven
Feb 15, 2023

Finding a Broadly Practical Approach for Regulating the Use of Facial Recognition by Law Enforcement

This report examines current and near-future uses of facial recognition by law enforcement and identifies the various concerns and related policy domains that could be used to guide public policy.

Samuel Peterson, Brian A. Jackson, Dulani Woods, Elina Treyger
Jan 19, 2023

A House Reunited: Prospects for Bipartisanship in a Divided Country

Based on workshop discussions, this Perspective presents some proposed solutions, and potential data sources to evaluate these solutions, to problems related to mis- and disinformation, election security, extremism, and immigration reform.

Marek N. Posard, William Marcellino, Todd C. Helmus, Katie Feistel
Dec 7, 2022

Examining the Loss of Wealth and Downward Mobility of African Americans: A Review of Challenges for the Black Middle Class

The position of middle-class African Americans remains precarious despite post-Civil Rights era gains. In this report, the author reviews research on the factors that may contribute to the downward mobility rates of middle-class African Americans.

Jessica Welburn Paige
Dec 7, 2022

Accounting for Black-White Wealth Differences: A Stylized Model of Wealth Accumulation

This report presents a stylized model of wealth accumulation that accounts for patterns in income and wealth shown in prior research to illustrate how various factors contribute to Black-white wealth differences.

Kathryn A. Edwards
Dec 7, 2022

Overcoming Compound Racial Inequity: Policies and Costs for Closing the Black-White Wealth Gap

The wealth gap between Black and white Americans is the result of inequities compounded over time. Using Survey of Consumer Finances data, the authors analyze the wealth gap and the potential impacts of disparity-reducing wealth-allocation policies.

Jonathan W. Welburn, Pedro Nascimento de Lima, Krishna B. Kumar, Osonde A. Osoba, Jonathan Lamb
Nov 30, 2022

Defining and Measuring Civic Infrastructure

This report offers a framework for defining civic infrastructure, then presents measures that provide information to help monitor civic infrastructure across the nation, in individual states, in communities, and across diverse populations.

Julia H. Kaufman, Melissa Kay Diliberti, Douglas Yeung, Jennifer Kavanagh
Nov 15, 2022

Machine Learning in Public Policy: The Perils and the Promise of Interpretability

By leveraging big data, machine learning (ML) can produce results that inform critical policy decisions. In this paper, the authors provide an overview of ML and the importance of its interpretability when used in public policy.

Evan D. Peet, Brian G. Vegetabile, Matthew Cefalu, Joseph D. Pane, Cheryl L. Damberg
Nov 15, 2022

National Security Decisionmaking Processes in Israel: Persistent Flaws and How to Amend Them

In this Perspective, the author examines the inherent flaws in the function of key Israeli decisionmaking entities and in the process as a whole, their underlying causes, and potential avenues to improve the decisionmaking apparatus.

Ofer Shelah
Nov 9, 2022

Among Black Americans, Is Military Service Associated with Better Quality of Life?

RAND researchers examined the ways in which military service might be correlated with certain health, economic, and social outcomes for Black Americans and explored several factors that could be meaningful to their health and well-being.

Tepring Piquado, Stephanie Brooks Holliday, Samantha McBirney, Thomas E. Trail, Annette Prieto, Charles A. Goldman, Rachana Seelam, Kelsey O'Hollaren, Aaron Kofner

How to Support Victims of Elder Mistreatment

Climate Change Affects Health and Will Increase Drug Demand

The Once Wobbly Quad Is Here to Stay

Why Cringe-Worthy School Start Times Are Bad for Kids

The Math Equity Equation

The Policy Currents Podcast

Getting to Know Military Caregivers and Their Needs

Managing Escalation in Crisis and War

Assessing and Articulating the Wider Benefits of Research

Improving Access to Early Childhood Education

Philanthropically Supported Research

Featured Research

Error

America's Opioid Ecosystem: How Leveraging System Interactions Can Help Curb Addiction, Overdose, and Other Harms

Quantifying the link between COVID-19, conflict risk, and the global economy

Staying the Unfavorable Course: National Security Council Decisionmaking and the Inertia of U.S. Afghanistan Policy, 2001–2016

Finding a Broadly Practical Approach for Regulating the Use of Facial Recognition by Law Enforcement

A House Reunited: Prospects for Bipartisanship in a Divided Country

Examining the Loss of Wealth and Downward Mobility of African Americans: A Review of Challenges for the Black Middle Class

Accounting for Black-White Wealth Differences: A Stylized Model of Wealth Accumulation

Overcoming Compound Racial Inequity: Policies and Costs for Closing the Black-White Wealth Gap

Defining and Measuring Civic Infrastructure

Machine Learning in Public Policy: The Perils and the Promise of Interpretability

National Security Decisionmaking Processes in Israel: Persistent Flaws and How to Amend Them

Among Black Americans, Is Military Service Associated with Better Quality of Life?

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