All Pardee RAND students complete a policy-relevant dissertation aimed at tackling the most pressing policy issues facing the world. Many Pardee RAND dissertations are partially- or fully-funded through endowed dissertation awards and other prizes.
Reports the results of two studies to determine how best to increase soldier knowledge and unit performance using a network-centric, knowledge repository designed to increase Stryker Brigade soldier knowledge and unit performance.
This dissertation consists of three stand-alone essays that focus on the economics of preserving health among vulnerable population, specifically chronic ill and elderly population.
Discusses issues surrounding the health of Hispanics in general, and of Hispanic immigrants in particular.
Examines the effects and benefits of the introduction of new drugs.
Examines the impact of individual and spousal health on the retirement decisions of both spouses in dual-earner families.
Analyzes the caregiving behavior of adult children toward elderly parents in the United States and China.
Uses a large, nationally representative panel dataset and a propensity score matching technique to assess the impact of bully victimization and the success of intervention programs.
Investigates the relationship between metropolitan-level segregation measures and individual-level health outcomes and estimates the causal impact of neighborhood disadvantage on health.
Addresses the long-term effect of physical activity on body weight and the effect of food price on body weight among Americans between ages 50 and 73.
Assesses the social welfare implications of a policy of requiring 25% of electricity and motor vehicle transportation fuels supplied to U.S. consumers to come from renewable energy sources, such as wind power and ethanol, by 2025.
Addresses the reunification of maltreated children with the adolescent mothers who maltreated them.
Tests the assumptions behind the U.S. Army's personnel management system that personnel stability leads to higher unit cohesion, which leads in turn to increased unit effectiveness.
Examines the effect of military deployment on spousal labor force participation and household well-being.
Analyzes the attractiveness and feasibility of integrating a new type of unit into the Army from three perspectives: budgetary, operational, and historical.
Evaluates factors including household preferences, resource constraints, and background factors such as risks and economic shocks in determining childhood investments in rural India.
Discusses the benefits of linking epidemiological modeling with international health resource allocation decisions and examines experimental models of influenza outbreak and antiretroviral policy in India.
Examines the relationship between operating and support costs and usage of Air Force aircraft, in order to improve resource allocation.
The four essays in this dissertation examine alcohol and food environments in relation to excessive drinking among adolescents and adults, weight gain trends among sociodemograhic groups, and the effect of retail food establishments on obesity.
Through surveys and analysis, the author examines which factors influence firms to manage hazards in the workplace. The author finds that the likelihood of hazard abatement actions increases with firm size and industry risk levels.
The author conducted a broad, empirical study of the overlapping public and private mechanisms that enforce federal securities laws, and analyzed corporate governance reforms that litigators have required defendant firms to adopt.
Examines how to prioritize and sequence political, social, and economic policies in post-conflict countries to sustain peace and reduce the risk of violence reoccurring.
Investigates the design and implementation of General Pervaiz Musharraf's avowed decentralization initiative.
Develops a method to assess racial and ethnic disparities in birth outcomes and shows that the importance of risk factors and birth outcome measures varies by race/ethnicity, gender, and time.
Explores issues of development of social safety nets in countries in transition and looks at whether reducing social security expenditures to stimulate economic growth policy is an effective way to combat poverty in such countries.
Assess current U.S. policy regarding the International Criminal Court and discusses the effectiveness of other, perhaps more robust, policies.
