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It's been a year unlike any other. COVID-19 has taken more than 1.5 million lives, wreaked untold economic despair and personal heartbreak, and upended nearly every aspect of daily life.
The pandemic also shined a spotlight on long-standing inequities; the virus tends to hurt most those who have the least.
That spotlight burned even brighter this summer, after Minneapolis police killed George Floyd, an unarmed Black man. Floyd's death spurred protests around the world and an overdue reckoning with the nation's history of systemic inequity and structural racism.
Amid this unprecedented public health crisis and the renewed calls for racial justice, the United States experienced a presidential election unlike any other in modern history. Ending the pandemic will no doubt top President-elect Joe Biden's agenda, but a wide array of policy challenges awaits his administration.
At RAND, we're reflecting not only on this extraordinary year, but on our efforts to inform constructive discussions and evidence-based decisions about the issues that matter most—through objective, nonpartisan research and analysis.
We've assembled a list of the top 10 research projects that resonated most with rand.org readers in 2020. This collection of RAND research runs the gamut of public policy issues—from income inequality, to fair and effective gun laws, to the public health and economic effects of COVID-19.
Policy Currents will be back in your inboxes in 2021. Until then, have a safe holiday season and a happy new year.
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