To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the RAND
Corporation, we train the spotlight on several ways in
which RAND has worked to explore ideas and challenges
that place us “ahead of the curve.” At the same time, we
look ahead to how RAND will continue in that tradition.
The world does not proceed directly from Point A to
Point B to Point C—which makes research on social,
national, or global progress more challenging and
interesting for RAND. For us, staying ahead of the curve
means deepening and broadening our knowledge of
progressively more complex problems around the world
so that we can help leaders of all kinds rise to their own
unforeseen and shifting challenges.
In the pages that follow, we highlight several of our
research activities of 2007 and take a glimpse of RAND’s
earlier work shaping the debate in these same fields.
RAND is at the center of a proud analytical tradition
of recommending policy options based on the most
probable future conditions. Over the past year, we have
begun using new tools to offer options even in the face
of indeterminate future conditions.