RAND Social and Economic Well-Being Centers and Portfolios

RAND Social and Economic Well-Being conducts its research through three programs; within those programs are housed multiple ongoing research centers and portfolios, as well as several short-term research projects.

Research Centers

  • An illustration of people from diverse racial backgrounds. Image by Lyubov Ivanova / Getty Images

    RAND Center to Advance Racial Equity Policy

    RAND's Center to Advance Racial Equity Policy supports a portfolio of innovative, high-impact racial equity research and analysis, creates a clearinghouse to help coordinate related efforts, and collaborates with organizations dedicated to advancing racial equity.

  • Elderly couple resting on a bench in the park

    Center for the Study of Aging

    The RAND Center for the Study of Aging has conducted objective, independent, interdisciplinary research on aging and the elderly for more than 20 years. It improves public policy through primary data collection as well as secondary data analysis.

  • House-shaped wooden blocks being placed in a row. Photo by Getty Images

    RAND Center on Housing and Homelessness

    The Center on Housing and Homelessness works to address the challenges of providing affordable housing solutions and better understand and serve the needs of people experiencing homelessness.

  • A statue of Themis holding the scales of justice

    RAND Institute for Civil Justice

    The RAND Institute for Civil Justice (ICJ), a part of the Justice Policy program, conducts research on all aspects of civil justice, from trends in litigation and jury verdicts to punitive damages, compensation systems, and alternative dispute resolution. Directly or indirectly, civil justice issues have an impact on us all.

  • A destroyed home in Moore, OK, where an F5 tornado struck on May 20, 2013

    Kenneth R. Feinberg Center for Catastrophic Risk Management and Compensation

    The RAND Kenneth R. Feinberg Center for Catastrophic Risk Management and Compensation seeks to identify and promote laws, programs, and institutions that reduce the adverse social and economic effects of catastrophes.

  • Worker with disability

    RAND Center for Disability Research

    The RAND Center for Disability Research is focused on understanding the impacts of policy, or lack thereof, on equitable access to participation in society for individuals with disabilities and their caregivers.

  • RAND Drug Policy Research Center

    The RAND Drug Policy Research Center conducts research to help decisionmakers in the United States and throughout the world address issues involving alcohol and other drugs.

  • A police officer on duty

    Center for Quality Policing

    The RAND Center for Quality Policing provides research and analysis on contemporary police practice and policy. The Center's work helps law enforcement agencies across the U.S. make better operational decisions and consistently perform at their best.

  • A man and young child leaning against a fence looking out into a field containing wind turbines. Photo by SolStock / Getty Images

    Climate Resilience Center

    The RAND Climate Resilience Center brings together trans-disciplinary research teams to build equitable, use-inspired climate resilience solutions.

Selected Research Portfolios

  • Jerome Boone shakes hands with members of the audience after graduating from a computer coding program at San Quentin State Prison in California, April 20, 2015

    Assessing What Works in Correctional Education

    Correctional education helps prisoners better transition to communities upon release. RAND's research in this area has influenced policy at a state and federal level.

  • A development engineer at Changan Automobile removes his hands from the steering wheel while the car is on self-driving mode during a test drive in Beijing, China, April 16, 2016

    Autonomous Systems

    Autonomous systems–from cars to aircraft–will change the way we live and work. Self-driving cars and delivery drones, for example, offer the possibility of fundamentally changing transportation. These developments raise complex policy questions.

  • An aerial view of a crowd of people overlaid on an abstract geometric pattern. Illustration by gremlin / Getty Images

    Initiative on System Transformation

    The Initiative on System Transformation is focused on developing concepts, strategies, and practical tools for dealing with systemic problems of justice, health, education, international security and prosperity, the economy, and other complex social systems.

  • Latin American Social Policy Research

    RAND conducts research throughout Latin America and the Latin American population in the United States in the areas of aging, social determinants and consequences of health, saving for retirement, social security coverage, labor market dynamics, and migration.

  • Illustration representing silhouettes of migrants against a world map. Image by carlosgardel / Adobe Stock

    Mass Migration

    RAND’s interdisciplinary work on mass migration tackles three areas that represent some of the biggest migration policy issues over the next decade: migration resulting from conflict, migration resulting from climate change or natural hazards, and management of migration across the United States southern border.

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    Priority Criminal Justice Needs Initiative

    The RAND Corporation, partnering with the Police Executive Research Forum, RTI International, and the University of Denver, is conducting research to assess and prioritize needs across the criminal justice community and to utilize innovation to solve problems and work smarter.

  • masked demonstrator carrying a U.S. flag leaves the Lincoln Memorial after self proclaimed "White Nationalists", white supremacists and members of the "alt-right" gathered for what they called a "Freedom of Speech" rally at the memorial in Washington, June 25, 2017, photo by Jim Bourg/Reuters

    Violent Extremism in America

    What factors lead people to join violent extremist organizations? What prompts them to exit extremist groups, and in some cases joining the fight against radicalization?