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

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.
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.
RAND Center on Housing and Homelessness in Los Angeles
The Center on Housing and Homelessness in Los Angeles works to address the challenges of providing affordable housing solutions in one of the most expensive housing markets in the nation and better understand and serve the needs of people experiencing homelessness.
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.
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.
RAND Center for Disability Research
The RAND Center for Disability Research aims to better understand the social and economic causes and consequences of disability. Research themes include examining the roles of employers, health-care markets, knowledge networks, and social insurance programs.
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.
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.
Climate Resilience Center
The RAND Climate Resilience Center conducts policy research and develops innovative tools to support decisionmakers at all levels of government as they confront challenges presented by climate change.

Selected Research Portfolios

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?