Nicholas Burger

The RAND Corporation and the Rockefeller Foundation formed a partnership to develop a modeling framework that can be used to estimate the net benefits of a resilience project. We call the framework the Resilience Dividend Valuation Model (RDVM). This report discusses the motivation for the RDVM, describes how we developed it, and offers a set of case studies to demonstrate how the RDVM can be applied across diverse settings.

RAND researchers developed a framework and metrics for examining vulnerabilities, opportunities, and risks to U.S. transmission, storage, and distribution (TS&D) systems through 2030 under a range of uncertainties. They assessed major stresses on and opportunities in three TS&D systems: oil and refined-oil products, electric power, and natural gas. They also considered the resilience that these systems have to short-term shocks and disruptions.

This report presents estimates of the gross regional product (GRP) of the Kurdistan Region Iraq in 2012 (excluding natural resources, because of lack of available data). It also describes efforts to set up a system for continuing data collection and analysis to support the annual calculation of the GRP, a critical indicator for successful policy planning."

The Kurdistan Region of Iraq needs policy-relevant data to help improve infrastructure, encourage the private sector, attract foreign investment, and foster economic growth. The Kurdistan Region Statistics Office needs to build capacity to collect the data. RAND worked closely with the Office to build capacity by preparing, conducting, and analyzing the first round of a survey of the regional labor force.

Mexico has undertaken reforms in recent years to professionalize its police. This report draws on the literature on corruption and personnel incentives and analyzes police reform in Mexico. It addresses the roots of corruption and the tools that could be used to mitigate it and provides an initial assessment of the reforms' effectiveness. The results suggest some progress, though police corruption still remains high and more work is needed.

This report addresses the conceptual basis, design, and implementation of the National Environmental Performance Track program. The voluntary program sought to encourage facilities to improve their environmental performance and provide a more collaborative relationship between facilities and regulators. While the program had mixed success, EPA should continue to seek out new approaches to complement and enhance traditional regulatory approaches.