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.
Dissertations by Date
2019
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Promotion, Turnover and Satisfaction in the Army Civilian Workforce: An Analysis of Features of Occupation Ladders and Employee Perspectives of the Work Environment December 27, 2019
Explores the relationships between promotion, turnover, employee satisfaction, and the positioning and movement of people in an occupation.
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Taxpayers' Misperceptions and Two Novel Behavioral Interventions to Counter Tax Evasion December 27, 2019
Explores intervention opportunities for tax evasion, focusing on the behavioral aspects of tax evasion, specifically, on perceptions about tax evasion and key elements of the U.S. federal tax system.
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People First: Improving Equitability of Air Force Recruiting Operations December 24, 2019
Explores concerns at the Air Force Recruiting Service regarding an imbalance in workloads among their enlisted accessions recruiters, which could negatively influence both recruiter morale and aggregate production of high-quality recruits.
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A Need for Speed? Identifying the Effects of Space Acquisition Timelines on Space Deterrence and Conflict Outcomes December 24, 2019
Investigates the link between acquisition timelines and space conflict using a mixed-methods approach of game-theoretic modeling and case study analysis.
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Indian Summer: Three Essays on Heatwave Vulnerability, Estimation and Adaptation December 23, 2019
Explores how future heatwaves in India may vary over time and geography and estimate the impact they might have on mortality.
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Mainland Strikes and U.S. Military Strategy Towards China: Historical Cases, Interviews, and a Scenario-Based Survey of American National Security Elites December 20, 2019
Presents three complementary research approaches focused on investigating the willingness of an American president and his advisors to authorize conventional strikes on the Chinese mainland during wartime.
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Understanding Home and Community-Based Long-Term Services and Supports: An Evaluation of Medicaid's Balancing Incentive Program September 24, 2019
Explores home and community-based services as a way to curb long-term services and supports spending growth through an evaluation of Medicaid's most recent rebalancing effort — the Balancing Incentive Program.
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Three Essays on Minority and Immigrant Outcomes in a New Era of Immigration Enforcement: Evidence from Los Angeles September 13, 2019
Seeks to disentangle the structural factors that affect levels of economic and social integration of minority and immigrant populations.
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The Criminal Justice System and More Lenient Drug Policy: Three Case Studies on California's Changes to How Its Criminal Justice System Addresses Drug Use April 15, 2019
Explores California's recent liberal policies, mostly associated to drug-related crimes, to provide implications for future policymaking.
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Three Essays on Health Financing in Sub-Saharan Africa: Health Shocks, Health Insurance Uptake, and Financial Risk Protection April 12, 2019
Series of three essays on health financing in Sub-Saharan Africa using quantitative and comparative case study methods.
2018
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Three Essays in Health Economics: Towards Alternative Payment Models for High-Value, High-Cost Medical Treatments December 17, 2018
Tests how two different payment models could help address the uncertainty about clinical benefits and the high upfront cost of some emerging therapies.
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Improving Health Decisions and Outcomes for Chronic Diseases: The Impact of Incentives and Information October 11, 2018
Assesses the impact of policies designed to address the treatment and prevention of chronic using a range of causal inference and quantitative methods.
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Three Essays on Economic Growth and Human Welfare October 11, 2018
Examines the influence of macroeconomic factors on individual welfare.
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Preventing Deviations from Presidential Term Limits in Low- and Middle-Income Democracies October 11, 2018
Examines the broader theme of deviations from presidential term limits.
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Ammonia Emissions from Industrial Hog Farming: Efficacy of Voluntary Control Strategies October 1, 2018
This dissertation explores the externality of ammonia emissions from the Iowa hog industry and investigates the possible impact of voluntary environmental policies to encourage ammonia control technology adoption.
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Long-Term Effects of Wartime Sexual Violence on Women and Families: The Case of Northern Uganda September 21, 2018
This dissertation studies the enduring effects of wartime sexual violence on Ugandan women and explore its ripple effects on families.
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Treatment Not Custody: Process and Impact Evaluation of the Santa Monica Homeless Community Court September 18, 2018
This dissertation is a process and impact evaluation of the Santa Monica Homeless Community Court.
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Harmonizing Discretionary Policy Choice with Fiscal Rule Making: Mexico after Fiscal and Energy Sector Reforms September 14, 2018
Studies the long-term effectiveness and vulnerability of a diverse set of fiscal policies, which propose lump-sum transfers and different consumption tax exemptions.
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Choose Wisely: A Study of College Major Choice and Major Switching Behavior August 31, 2018
This dissertation explores the college major decision-making process, both for initial and subsequent major choices, and analyzes the associations between major choice behaviors and student outcomes such as time to degree and probability of graduation.
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Financial Education among Financially Vulnerable Populations in the United States August 29, 2018
Examines if state-mandated financial education improves debt-related and college-going behaviors among economically vulnerable young adults.
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Strengthening Federal Capacity to Conduct Evaluations to Inform Future R&D Program Planning June 21, 2018
This dissertation identifies for strengthening the Federal Government's capacity to evaluate its research and development programs using insights identified from philanthropic foundations.
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Three Essays on Value in Health Care: Workplace Wellness Program Return on Investment, Effectiveness of Monetary Penalties for Tobacco Cessation Non-Participation, and Physician Perceptions of Their Use of Time and Appropriateness of Care Provided June 12, 2018
This dissertation, in a three paper format, examines three policy levers for improving health care value.
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Value of Information for Policy Analysis May 15, 2018
This dissertation considers the viability of applying Value of Information methods in complex systems for policy analysis, concluding that these methods can be applied, but that different methods are appropriate in different cases.
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Finding the Force of the Future: Improving Air Force Officer Outreach through an Investigation of School and Community Attributes April 17, 2018
Seeks to improve understanding of the factors indicative of applications to the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps' High School Scholarship Program.
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Using the National Training Center Instrumentation System to Aid Simulation-Based Acquisition March 22, 2018
This dissertation uses the National Training Center instrumentation system to aid simulation-based acquisition.