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.
Explores the relationship between natural disasters and terrorism and investigates and clarifies causal links between terrorism, female labor force participation, and larger gender disparities in the labor market.
Tests the hypothesis that development and reconstruction actors can feasibly implement sound development and reconstruction across a relatively wide spectrum of conflict, but varying levels and natures of violence can affect its delivery.
Three essays each focusing on one topic in economics of health behaviors in China.
Explores quality and utilization of diabetes care in China.
Attempts to understand where similarities in social context characteristics and disclosure behaviors lie in respondents' various sexual and social networks leading to important implications for developing new and innovative HIV interventions.
Examines the economics of financial firms, their governance practices, and governance-performance links.
Analyzes the outcomes from using separate budgets for military operations.
The methods employed, as well as those recommended for future studies, are applicable to any law enforcement agency interested in attracting and identifying high-quality applicants more efficiently.
The goal of this analysis was to ascertain the predominant themes and patterns likely to be associated with producing successful health care quality improvement interventions (QIIs).
Examines the risk of U.S.-China conflict based on a variety of theoretical works on conflict, applied to the U.S.-China relationship.
Examines how the United States Air Force can sustain sufficient nuclear skills and experience within the Air Force Nuclear Enterprise.
Assesses the security and economic policy responses of a representative sample of Asian states to China between 1992 and 2008.
Reviews the controversy over the true high school graduation rate in the United States, provides a comprehensive review of the debate, discusses shortcomings of current methods, and proposes new methods that address those shortcomings.
Examines the potential for better feedback on electricity usage to reduce household energy consumption.
Presents three essays on obstacles to improving demographic representation in the armed forces.
Examines the link between practice opportunities and physician retention in the Army, Air Force, and Navy.
Examines racial-ethnic and gender disparities in trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder, barriers to mental health care, and mental health service utilization.
Explores correlations between school structure and academic outcomes, and evaluates the effects of Small Learning Communities implementation on school structure and academic outcomes in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Examines the role of the Internet in the job search process and its impact on labor market outcomes.
Examines if the Department of Defense Small Business Innovation Research program positively influences commercial viability and what is the most effective means of evaluating this question.
Studies price-setting behavior in the retail gasoline industry.
Analyzes North Korea's Decision-making process regarding its nuclear programs with two choice models -- Rational Choice and Cognitive Choice -- and suggest effective/adaptive/robust deterrence strategy for the ROK-US combined forces.
Defines methods, principles, and tools to help groups agree on multi-perspective strategic decision making.
Discusses the possibility that states which share a common constructed identity can better coordinate their international agendas.
Addresses issues related to public policies that encourage the extension of working lives of the elderly in the United States.
