RAND Review

The cover story outlines the wisdom of bearing the up-front costs for publicly funded high-quality early childhood intervention programs so that society can reap the plentiful returns, even if they take years to accumulate. A story on energy security argues for a vastly diversified national energy investment portfolio to help reduce economic vulnerability to energy supply shocks over the next several decades. A sidebar explains how better assessments of energy resources would improve resource development. Another story discusses the growing medical options — and complications — for the overweight and obese. Shorter stories discuss the changing workplace, a London program that offers patients a choice of hospitals, the potential benefits of using health information technology, the effectiveness of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, and the Chinese export of goods and technologies that could be used to make weapons of mass destruction.