1,357 research outputs found
RAND in southeast Asia : a history of the Vietnam War era /
No full text"This volume chronicles RAND's involvement in researching insurgency and counterinsurgency in Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand during the Vietnam War era, from the period preceding the dispatch of U.S. troops, to the most intensive combat years, to the Tet Offensive of 1968, to the end of the war in 1975. The author draws on interviews with RAND staff who were involved in research in the region, the hundreds of studies that RAND produced on these topics, and documentary sources outside RAND to provide a narrative that captures the tenor of the times, conveys the attitudes and thinking of those involved, and recounts their personal stories and experiences. Elliott assesses both the extent to which RAND's research influenced U.S. policies and decisionmakers during the war and the effect that the war had on RAND--culminating with the release of the Pentagon Papers, which became a national controversy in 1971"--Provided by publisher."RAND Investment in People and Ideas.""CP-564-RC"--Page 4 of cover.Includes bibliographical references (pages 627-652) and index.RAND: the beginning -- A remote corner of the world: the beginning in Vietnam -- "What makes the Viet Cong tick?" -- Escalation and airpower -- Controversy -- The many aspects of the war -- The Mekong Delta and the Central Highlands -- The Tet Offensive -- Pacification and Vietnamization -- THe Pentagon Papers -- The end of the war -- Laos and Thailand: sideshows -- Diversification."This volume chronicles RAND's involvement in researching insurgency and counterinsurgency in Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand during the Vietnam War era, from the period preceding the dispatch of U.S. troops, to the most intensive combat years, to the Tet Offensive of 1968, to the end of the war in 1975. The author draws on interviews with RAND staff who were involved in research in the region, the hundreds of studies that RAND produced on these topics, and documentary sources outside RAND to provide a narrative that captures the tenor of the times, conveys the attitudes and thinking of those involved, and recounts their personal stories and experiences. Elliott assesses both the extent to which RAND's research influenced U.S. policies and decisionmakers during the war and the effect that the war had on RAND--culminating with the release of the Pentagon Papers, which became a national controversy in 1971"--Provided by publisher.Print version record.JSTO
Costly participation and heterogeneous preferences in informational committees
No full textInformational committees are groups of people who are designated to gather information. This article develops a simple model of committee size based on costly participation and preference heterogeneity. In a setting in which the information structure and policy preferences are both represented by normal random variables, I characterize an equilibrium under the mean decision rule and derive the optimal committee size. I show that when effort costs are sufficiently high, preference heterogeneity can provide members additional incentives to gather information, and thus the optimal committee size and the principal's expected payoff can increase in the heterogeneity of committee members' policy preferences. Copyright (c) 2009, RAND.
Project Retrosight. Understanding the returns from cardiovascular and stroke research: Case Studies
No full textCopyright @ 2011 RAND Europe. All rights reserved. The full text article is available via the link below.This project explores the impacts arising from cardiovascular and stroke research funded 15-20 years ago and attempts to draw out aspects of the research, researcher or environment that are associated with high or low impact. The project is a case study-based review of 29 cardiovascular and stroke research grants, funded in Australia, Canada and UK between 1989 and 1993. The case studies focused on the individual grants but considered the development of the investigators and ideas involved in the research projects from initiation to the present day. Grants were selected through a stratified random selection approach that aimed to include both high- and low-impact grants. The key messages are as follows: 1) The cases reveal that a large and diverse range of impacts arose from the 29 grants studied. 2) There are variations between the impacts derived from basic biomedical and clinical research. 3) There is no correlation between knowledge production and wider impacts 4) The majority of economic impacts identified come from a minority of projects. 5) We identified factors that appear to be associated with high and low impact. This report presents the key observations of the study and an overview of the methods involved. It has been written for funders of biomedical and health research and health services, health researchers, and policy makers in those fields. It will also be of interest to those involved in research and impact evaluation.This study was initiated with internal funding from RAND Europe and HERG, with continuing funding from the UK National Institute for Health Research, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and the National Heart Foundation of Australia. The UK Stroke Association and the British Heart Foundation provided support in kind through access to their archives
Rand, Ayn
No full textAYN RAND - AUTHOR OF THE FOUNTAINHEAD - FOUNDER OF
OBJECTIVISM - CENTER OF NATION WIDE CONTROVERSY -
PROPHETESS (article)
Molly Withers
WFS, 77, V, 1
Deregulating school aid in California : revenues and expenditures in the second year of categorical flexibility /
No full textCalifornia's system of school finance is highly regulated and prescriptive. A large share of state funding is allocated through categorical programs; that is, programs whose funding is contingent on districts using the money in a particular way or for a particular purpose. In 2008-09, the strings were taken off 40 of those programs, collectively known as the "Tier 3" programs, as part of a budget deal that also reduced the funding for those programs. The author gathers evidence about how districts have responded to this fiscal freedom, particularly how resource allocations are made at the district level and what specific changes districts have made in their allocations. Although concerns have been raised that those districts with relatively more Tier 3 funding have been disproportionately affected by the state's budget crisis, the data show that districts with more Tier 3 funding lost a similar share of their budget as other districts (although that represents larger per-pupil dollar amounts). Furthermore, so far and on average, districts do not appear to be making large-scale changes in how they are spending their money. Individual chapters contain footnotes. (Contains 1 figure and 24 tables.)."RAND Education.""PACE Policy Analysis for California Education.""The research ... was supported by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation, and the Stuart Foundation, and was conducted by PACE research network and RAND Education, a division of the RAND Corporation"--Title page verso.Includes bibliographical references (page 53).Print version record.Introduction -- Background -- Data -- Distribution of Revenue -- Spending Priorities -- Conclusion.California's system of school finance is highly regulated and prescriptive. A large share of state funding is allocated through categorical programs; that is, programs whose funding is contingent on districts using the money in a particular way or for a particular purpose. In 2008-09, the strings were taken off 40 of those programs, collectively known as the "Tier 3" programs, as part of a budget deal that also reduced the funding for those programs. The author gathers evidence about how districts have responded to this fiscal freedom, particularly how resource allocations are made at the district level and what specific changes districts have made in their allocations. Although concerns have been raised that those districts with relatively more Tier 3 funding have been disproportionately affected by the state's budget crisis, the data show that districts with more Tier 3 funding lost a similar share of their budget as other districts (although that represents larger per-pupil dollar amounts). Furthermore, so far and on average, districts do not appear to be making large-scale changes in how they are spending their money. Individual chapters contain footnotes. (Contains 1 figure and 24 tables.).JSTO
Rand (Clayton) papers
No full textMSS. 91. 1918-1971. 33 cubic feet. Papers of Clayton Thomas Rand (1891-1971), author, columnist, speaker, and publisher of the Dixie Guide, Gulfport, Mississippi. Rand graduated from Mississippi A&M College in 1911, operated newspapers in Neshoba County and other parts of north Mississippi, and in the 1920\u27s moved to the Mississippi Gulf Coast, where he resided until his death. Included are correspondence; manuscripts of speeches, books, pamphlets, and columns; financial records; clippings; printed material and photographs. The collection reflects Rand\u27s varied activities and his political views
Rand on the Atonement A Critique
No full textIn March 1964, Ayn Rand sat down for an interview with Playboy. In it, Rand argued that Christ's atoning sacrifice—if it happened—was morally wrong. The author contends that Rand made a bad argument. Depending on how her words are interpreted, Rand's argument for the immorality of Christ's atonement was based on (a) at least one false premise or (b) a “bait-and-switch” fallacy. Either way, the argument fails and should be abandoned
Rand on the Atonement A Critique
No full textIn March 1964, Ayn Rand sat down for an interview with Playboy. In it, Rand argued that Christ's atoning sacrifice—if it happened—was morally wrong. The author contends that Rand made a bad argument. Depending on how her words are interpreted, Rand's argument for the immorality of Christ's atonement was based on (a) at least one false premise or (b) a “bait-and-switch” fallacy. Either way, the argument fails and should be abandoned
Firm reputation and horizontal integration
No full textWe study effects of horizontal integration on firm reputation in an environment where customers observe only imperfect signals about firms' effort/quality choices. Horizontal integration leads to a larger market base for the merged firm, and thus helps reputation building with more effective punishments and better monitoring by eliminating idiosyncratic shocks of individual markets. But it allows the merged firm to deviate only in a subset of markets, which hinders reputation building by making it more difficult for consumers to monitor its quality. We show that these effects give rise to a reputation-based theory of the optimal firm size and derive its comparative statics. Copyright (c) 2009, RAND.
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The Literary Theory of Ayn Rand
No full textThe author believes that Ayn Rand presents a systematic approach to aesthetics and that her work presents an interesting and significant approach to aesthetic problems. The author will attempt to present Ayn Rand's basic aesthetic concepts that throw light on her literary theory. The author will also present her views on literary schools and of individual authors
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