RAND researchers have a long history of conducting research related to the demography and economics of health and aging both in the U.S. and developing countries. This proposal is to establish an Exploratory Center for research on demographic and economic aspects of health and aging at RAND. The overall goal of the exploratory center is to support the infrastructure necessary for research, new program development, and dissemination of new data available in the RAND Family Life Surveys (FL) to the research community at large, and dissemination of research findings to the policy community. The Administrative and Research Support Core A will provide overall administrative support for the Center and enhance the productivity and output of RAND research projects that study aging-related issues. The Core will be supported by a Director an Executive Committee consisting of four senior researchers, and by an Advisory Committee involving three experts in aging research and especially policy perspectives. Core A will enhance the productivity of research projects and facilitate the development of new research initiatives by supporting collegial interaction and enhanced information about new data and computing efficiency. The Program Development Core B will support the development of new research initiatives through small scale pilot projects which allow researchers to develop research ideas into peer-reviewed research proposals. This involves three pilot projects in the first two years and a selection process for subsequent years of the exploratory center. The External Research Resources Support and Dissemination Core D will disseminate information on new aging research capabilities using the RAND Family Life Survey (FL) databases. It will hold two professional conferences focusing on aging research using these data and in conjunction with the comparable HRS and AHEAD data. Core D will also support the synthesis of research findings from research projects into policy briefs and papers written specifically for the policy community.
