Major U.S. Think Tanks: RAND Corporation

In 1948 RAND was created at the urging of its original sponsor, the Air Force. After World War II, RAND focused especially on research in national security. Today RAND operates on a broad front, making its research available to public policy makers at all levels, private sector leaders in many industries, and the public at large. RANDs research and analysis aims to: provide practical guidance by making policy choices clear and by addressing barriers to policy implementation; develop solutions to complex problems by bringing researchers in all relevant academic specialities; dissemination of research findings. RAND has more than 500 employees.

Official Organizational Status: Independent Institute

Political Orientation: U.S. Center-right

Scope/Research Areas: RAND specializes in: Foreign relations and diplomacy, security and defense, economic issues, regional studies, science sand technology, labor and human resource development, social issues, education and health and welfare.

Funding Sources: 1998 Budget: US$ 113.5 million. National, local and state government (83 %) and private donations (17 %).

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Table: Publishing Programs of Think Tanks



Think Tank

Periodicals

Publication of Research Findings

Brookings Institution (Washington D.C., US)

Brookings Review, Brookings Papers on Economic Activities

Recent titles include: Hess, Frederick M.: Spinning Wheels. The Politics of Urban School Reform. (1998). Haass, Richard N.: The Bureaucratic Entrepreneur. How to be Effective in Any Unruly Organization. (1998).

Heritage Foundation (Washington D.C., US)

Policy Review

Publication of journals, newsletters, magazines, research reports, policy/issue briefs, video, CD-ROM, website.
Recent publications include: Holmes, K. and J. J. Przystup: Between Diplomacy and Deterrence. Strategies for U.S. Relations with China. (1997). Holmes, K. and T. Moore (eds.): Restoring American Leadership. (1996).

American Enterprise Institute (Washington D.C., US)

The American Enterprise, Newsletter

Types of publications are newsletters, magazines, monographs and books.
Recent titles include: Income Inequality and IQ. (1998). Morrisey, Michael (ed.): Managed Care and Changing Health Care Markets. (1998).

Cato Institute (Washington D.C., US)

Regulation, Cato Journal, Policy Report

Research findings are published in the form of: journals, newsletters, magazines, research reports, monographs and policy/issue briefs.
Some recent publications include: Moore, Thomas: Gale Climate of Fear. Why We Shouldn't Worry About Global Warming. (1998). Carpenter, T. G. and B. Conry (eds.): NATO Enlargement. Illusions and Reality. (1998).

RAND Corporation (Santa Monica, CA, US)

RAND Research Review, RAND Journal of Economics

Types of publications are journals, newsletters, magazines, research reports, working/discussion papers, monographs and policy/issue briefs. An important outlet is the RAND publication series. In 1997, RAND published 73 reports and papers in this series. Many RAND studies also appear as books from commercial publishing houses and university presses, and as articles in professional, scholarly, and technical journals.

Institute of Economic Affairs (London, UK)

Economic Affairs, Newsletter

Research findings are published in the form of journals, newsletters, magazines, research reports, working/discussion papers and monographs. Some recent titles include: Regulation Utilities. Broadening the Debate . (1997). The Conservative Government's Economic Record. (1998).

Adam Smith Institute (London, UK)

ASI Bulletin

Some recent publications are: Singapore versus Chile. Competing models for welfare reform. The Eastern Market. The Future of the Post-Communist Countries.

Center for Policy Studies (London, UK)

CPS Newsletter

Types of publications are newsletters, magazines, research reports and policy/issue briefs. Recent titles include: Selbourne, David: One Year On. The "New Politics" of Labour. Eltis, Walter: Further Considerations on EMU. It will Create Instability and Destroy Employment.



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Abolition of Resale Price Maintenance

The London-based Institute for Economic Affairs (AEI) from its beginning undertook an extensive publishing program to push forward its free-market ideology. Among its publications was one particular paper, which had a direct and immediate political impact. Published in 1960 "Resale Price Maintenance and Shoppers' Choice" by Basil Yamey argued for the abolition of Resale Price Maintenance, which by fixing prices in shops prevented large stores from necessarily under-cutting smaller shops. Yamey argued that a free market in shop prices would save the shoppers £180,000,000 a year, and prices would fall by five percent.

The publication of Yamey's paper was timed to coincide with a period of public debate on the subject to ensure maximum impact, and Yamey's suggestions were taken up by the incumbent Conservative Government. Although the Abolition of Resale Price Maintenance by Edward Heath in 1964, can not only be attributed to Yamey's paper, it for sure had a substantial impact.

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NATO

The North Atlantic Treaty was signed in Washington on 4 April 1949, creating NATO (= North Atlantic Treaty Organization). It was an alliance of 12 independent nations, originally committed to each other's defense. Between 1952 and 1982 four more members were welcomed and in 1999, the first ex-members of COMECON became members of NATO (the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland), which makes 19 members now. Around its 50th anniversary NATO changed its goals and tasks by intervening in the Kosovo Crisis.

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codes

an algorithm for bringing a legible message into an illegible form. There has to exist some sort of code book to encode/decode it.

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Enigma Machine

The Enigma Encryption Machine was famous for its insecurities as for the security that it gave to German ciphers. It was broken, first by the Poles in the 1930s, then by the British in World War II.

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