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Racial Equity

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RAND research has addressed racial equity from several angles. Studies have explored such topics as disparities in the U.S. criminal justice system, unequal economic opportunities and barriers to employment for people of color, the achievement gap between minority and nonminority students, and how differences in access to quality health care can affect individual and community health and well-being.

Project
Investigating the U.S. Racial Wealth Gap
The gap in wealth between Black and white Americans is a product of historical realities that continue to shape economic outcomes. Policy interventions to address current wealth disparities must understand the long-standing inequities that contributed to them.
Dec 7, 2022
Essay
Hackathon Focuses on Making Policing More Equitable
Hackathons bring new ideas and perspectives to hard policy problems and introduce college students to the field of policy analysis. The latest hackathon, hosted by Pardee RAND and RAND NextGen, explored ways to make the criminal justice system more equitable and more effective.
Jan 9, 2023

Explore Racial Equity

Q&A
What Communities Need to Thrive: Q&A with Anita Chandra
Anita Chandra, vice president and director of RAND Social and Economic Well-Being, focuses on issues of health, well-being, and equity. She is researching how to create a culture of health, how to address inequities in the U.S. health system, and disaster response and resilience, especially in the context of the pandemic.
Mar 8, 2021
News Release
Black Americans Report High Levels of Vaccine Hesitancy, Including Among Health Care Workers
Black Americans have a high level of vaccine hesitancy and mistrust of COVID-19 vaccines, including among Black health care workers. Those who expressed vaccine hesitancy also showed high levels of overall mistrust in the vaccine, concerns about potential harm and side effects, and lack of confidence in vaccine effectiveness and safety.
Mar 1, 2021
Report
Vaccine Hesitancy Is High Among Black Americans, Including Health Care Workers
Lower vaccination rates among Black Americans would further widen COVID-19 inequities in diagnosis, hospitalization, and mortality. But concerns about vaccine safety, mistrust of the government's transparency around COVID-19, and beliefs about racism in health care are contributing to mistrust of the vaccine.
Mar 1, 2021
Journal Article
Trauma Care Does Not Discriminate: The Association of Race and Health Insurance with Mortality Following Traumatic Injury
Using data from a sample of patients admitted to hospitals for traumatic injury, this article examines the effects of race and insurance coverage on mortality using two logistic regression models, for patients younger and older than 65 years.
Jan 28, 2021
Journal Article
Drivers of Differential Views of Health Equity in the U.S. Is the U.S. Ready to Make Progress? Results from the 2018 National Survey of Health Attitudes
This study uses data from a nationally representative sample of American adults to examine the factors that people think drive health outcomes and their beliefs about the importance of health equity.
Jan 26, 2021
Report
How Law Enforcement Can Mitigate Bias in Machine Learning Decision Aids
Bias in law enforcement systems that use artificial intelligence and machine learning can cause or exacerbate inequity. Agencies can avoid bias by establishing standards for measuring it, weighing the costs of biased outcomes, and providing workforce development and training in the emerging technologies.
Jan 21, 2021
Blog
Political Violence, COVID-19 Vaccine Questions, Mental Health Care: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on why we need to brace for more political violence after the Capitol attack, COVID-19 vaccine questions and answers, how to reform the U.S. mental health system, and more.
Jan 15, 2021
Commentary
COVID-19 Has Offered Opportunities for Communities to Come Together
The past year has been among the most turbulent in recent memory. Might recent crises provide a catalyst for a renewed sense of civic engagement that transcends some of the race and class divisions COVID-19 has exacerbated?
Jan 13, 2021
Report
COVID-19 and the Experiences of Populations at Greater Risk: Description and Top-Line Summary Data — Wave 2, Fall 2020
This report presents the results of the second of four surveys on how Americans' health views and values have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on populations deemed vulnerable or underserved.
Jan 13, 2021
Periodical
RAND Review: January-February 2021
The cover story on the ’Internet of Bodies’ highlights the perils of devices that track personal health data and provide medical treatment. Other columns explore vaccine hesitancy, the high price of insulin in the U.S., and social justice in America.
Jan 6, 2021
Commentary
Without Unemployment Benefits, How Might Americans Make Ends Meet?
Do unemployment benefits keep people from accepting jobs? What effect do they have on the economy? Researchers and policymakers have been debating these issues since COVID-19 led to widespread job losses last spring.
Dec 30, 2020
Journal Article
Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Care for Health System-Affiliated Physician Organizations and Non-Affiliated Physician Organizations
This article assesses racial and ethnic disparities in care for Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries and whether disparities differ between health system-affiliated physician organizations (POs) and nonaffiliated POs.
Dec 29, 2020
Journal Article
Trends in Family Ratings of Experience With Care and Racial Disparities Among Maryland Nursing Homes
We analyzed trends of consumer ratings publicly reported for Maryland nursing homes during 2007-2010, and determined whether racial/ethnic disparities in experiences with care changed.
Dec 29, 2020
Commentary
Teleworking During the COVID-19 Pandemic Highlights Educational Inequity
The ability to telework is associated with both reduced risk of COVID-19 infection and with significantly lower risk of job loss. There are large disparities in who is able to telework by race and ethnicity—but even larger ones by educational attainment.
Dec 23, 2020
Blog
The Most Popular RAND Research of 2020
Here are the RAND research projects that resonated most in 2020, a year unlike any in living memory. Topics include remote learning, election disinformation, income inequality, and more.
Dec 21, 2020
Blog
Americans' Financial Struggles, COVID-19 Vaccinations, Virtual Schools: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on Americans' ongoing financial struggles, how we can learn from the first phase of COVID-19 vaccinations, why virtual schools may be here to stay, and more.
Dec 18, 2020
News Release
Financial Woes Grow Worse Over Course of Coronavirus Pandemic; More Families Report Trouble Paying Bills
The economic challenges caused by the coronavirus pandemic have grown worse since the spring for many American families, with an increasing number reporting that they have trouble paying bills.
Dec 17, 2020
Report
Americans' Financial Difficulties Continue
As the pandemic continues, many U.S. households are struggling to pay their bills. No income group has been spared financial difficulties, but the most-vulnerable households have been hit the hardest. There are severe challenges among lower-income workers and among Black and Hispanic households.
Dec 17, 2020
Commentary
The Lopsided Telework Revolution
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated a transition to telework, protecting the jobs and the health of those whose work can be performed remotely. Creative policies in a post-pandemic world are needed to help more broadly distribute the benefits of increased remote work.
Nov 16, 2020
Commentary
Disaster Reporting and Its Impacts on Policy and Inequities
Disaster news tropes may capture audience attention, but they ultimately frustrate progress in mitigating the short- and long-term effects of disasters on communities. It's more important than ever that news stories about disasters frame the effects of environmental phenomena in meaningful ways.
Nov 16, 2020

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Research conducted by

Researcher Spotlight

Robert J. Romanelli

Research Leader

Rob Romanelli (he/him) is a research leader at RAND Europe focusing on health and well-being. Romanelli's work has focused on evaluating health care system policies, programs, and interventions designed to improve the quality and safety of care delivery. He is broadly interested in the…
Jennifer Bouey

Senior Policy Researcher

Dr. Jennifer Bouey is a senior policy researcher, Tang Chair for China Policy Studies, and an epidemiologist at the RAND Corporation. She also serves as the department chair for Global Health at Georgetown University and a professor of policy analysis at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. She…

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