Finance

  • Periodical

    Periodical

    RAND Review: May-June 2023

    The cover story commemorates RAND's 75th anniversary. One feature article explores what it would take to eliminate racial wealth disparities in the United States; another highlights a promising mental health first aid initiative in New York City.

    May 12, 2023

  • Profiles of four African Americans in front of a money tree, illustration by Kekeli Sumah/RAND Corporation, from Andre Hunter/Unsplash and Pete Soriano/RAND Corporation, from Atlas Illustrations/Adobe Stock and dar/Adobe Stock

    Essay

    What Would It Take to Close America's Black-White Wealth Gap?

    White Americans hold ten times more total wealth than Black Americans, a disparity that has worsened in recent decades. RAND researchers modeled wealth across millions of households and tested several funding scenarios to see which could most effectively close the gap.

    May 9, 2023

  • Tool

    Tool

    RAND HRS Longitudinal File 2020 (V1) Documentation: Includes 1992-2020 (Early Release)

    This tool is a cleaned, easy-to-use, and streamlined data product containing information from the Health and Retirement Study, a longitudinal household survey that facilitates research into different aspects of population aging in the United States.

    Apr 13, 2023

  • RAND Weekly Recap

    Blog

    Opioids in America, Silicon Valley Bank, Semiconductors: RAND Weekly Recap

    This weekly recap focuses on addressing America's illicit opioids problem, Silicon Valley Bank’s demise, Taiwan’s semiconductor dominance, and more.

    Mar 17, 2023

  • A customer is escorted into the Silicon Valley Bank headquarters in Santa Clara, California, March 13, 2023, photo by Brittany Hosea-Small/Reuters

    Commentary

    Financial Panic in the Age of Digital Banking and Social Media

    Bank runs as a source of systemic risk are nothing new. To manage systemic risks in the age of social media, regulators may need to anticipate where the crisis will go and build in automatic brakes to slow them down. There likely won't be time to react at the speed of negotiation between regulators and bankers.

    Mar 14, 2023

  • Report

    Report

    Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Needs for Law Enforcement

    As cryptocurrency is increasingly used for both legitimate business transactions and illegal activities, law enforcement must adapt. In this report, researchers describe cryptocurrency-related research and development needs for law enforcement.

    Jan 12, 2023

  • News Release

    News Release

    Americans' Spending Declines Consistently After Age 65; Finding Applies Broadly Across All Wealth Groups

    Americans' personal spending drops consistently after age 65, both among the affluent and those with lower levels of financial resources. The findings contradict traditional wisdom that spending will be constant or even increase during older age, and suggests that individuals and couples could spend more early in retirement.

    Dec 7, 2022

  • Black couple holding sold sign sitting on porch of a house, photo by valentinrussanov/Getty Images

    Commentary

    To Help African Americans Gain Generational Wealth, Look to the Housing Market

    African American families have significantly less wealth than White families, even after reaching the middle class. Home ownership is, for the vast majority of Americans, the primary vehicle for accruing wealth, and passing it down through generations. This is a crucial time for policymakers to consider policies that focus on improving home ownership rates for African Americans.

    Dec 7, 2022

  • Illustrations of a black woman and a tree representing wealth, illustration by Pete Soriano, from Atlas Illustrations and dar/Adobe Stock

    Report

    Accounting for Black-White Wealth Differences

    Wealth accumulation is not solely determined by a person's choices and ability. Many factors affect individual wealth, including parental income, credit, and systemic discrimination. These factors have a cumulative effect and can lead to persistent disparities over generations.

    Dec 7, 2022

  • Illustrations of a black woman and a tree representing wealth, illustration by Pete Soriano, from Atlas Illustrations and dar/Adobe Stock

    Report

    Examining the Loss of Wealth and Downward Mobility of African Americans

    Black children who grow up in middle-class households are less likely than white children who grow up in middle-class households to replicate their parents' socioeconomic status. What key factors contribute to this disparity?

    Dec 7, 2022

  • Illustrations of a black man and a tree representing wealth, illustration by Pete Soriano, from Atlas Illustrations and dar/Adobe Stock

    Report

    Overcoming Compound Racial Inequity

    Differences in Black and white Americans' economic status show how the harms of the past—slavery, segregation, discrimination—live on in the present. Could wealth allocations help to close the racial wealth gap?

    Dec 7, 2022

  • A man's profile in front of an abstract image of branches and hundred dollar bills, illustration by Kekeli Sumah/RAND Corporation, from Andre Hunter/Unsplash and Pete Soriano/RAND Corporation, from Atlas Illustrations/Adobe Stock and dar/Adobe Stock

    Project

    Investigating the U.S. Racial Wealth Gap

    The gap in wealth between Black and white Americans is a product of historical realities that continue to shape economic outcomes. Policy interventions to address current wealth disparities must understand the long-standing inequities that contributed to them.

    Dec 6, 2022

  • Asian senior man and woman at the beach at sunrise, photo by glowonconcept/Getty Images

    Report

    Americans' Spending Declines Consistently After Age 65

    Americans' personal spending drops consistently after age 65, both among the affluent and those with lower levels of financial resources. The findings contradict traditional wisdom that spending will be constant or even increase during older age, and suggests that individuals and couples could spend more early in retirement.

    Dec 5, 2022

  • Journal Article

    Journal Article

    Saving Regret and Procrastination

    Saving regret, or the wish in hindsight to have saved more earlier in life, is widespread in older populations. Little of the variation is explained by procrastination and psychological factors. Unemployment, health, and divorce are larger factors.

    Nov 23, 2022

  • Dissertation

    Dissertation

    Financial Mechanisms in a Disaster Aftermath: The Mexican Case

    Explores the financial mechanisms available to individuals and governments after a disaster in developing countries, using Mexico as a case study.

    Oct 25, 2022

  • Journal Article

    Journal Article

    Credit Building or Credit Crumbling? A Credit Builder Loan's Effects on Consumer Behavior and Market Efficiency in the United States

    We use a randomized encouragement design and predictive modeling to examine impacts of a credit-builder loan (CBL) on borrowers, providers, and credit market information.

    Sep 29, 2022

  • Report

    Report

    National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Resources: Financial Management Programming Evaluation

    The authors examined how the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency has programmed its resources, focusing on the reasons for changes over time and the results of the changes.

    Jun 8, 2022

  • A senior couple standing in their home in front of a large window. The man has his arm around the shoulder of the woman as they talk. Photo by FG Trade / Getty Images

    Journal Article

    Pathways to Retirement Among Dual Earning Couples

    This paper examines the transition from full-time work to fully retired among dual earning couples, which we call joint retirement trajectories. We analyze 12 waves of the Health and Retirement Study to map out the distribution of potential pathways that couples undertake when retiring.

    Apr 21, 2022

  • Brochure

    Brochure

    Spotlight 2021–2022

    Spotlight 2021-2022 highlights selected RAND Europe projects that address the important issues of our time. It also features research that is poised to make a difference in the coming year.

    Feb 23, 2022

  • Report

    Report

    Proceedings of the U.S.-Japan Socioeconomic Policy Research Exchange: The Rise of Telework Under COVID-19 and the Growth of Cryptocurrency

    This volume captures insights from two conferences that brought together leading U.S. and Japanese experts to explore the implications of recent growth in teleworking, working from home, cryptocurrency, and blockchain in the United States and Japan.

    Jan 5, 2022

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