Rand Journal of Economics

Rand Journal of Economics
Title	Rand Journal of Economics
Discipline	Economics
Abbreviation	Rand J. Econ.
Publisher	RAND Corporation
Country	United States
History	1970–present
Frequency	Quarterly
Issn	0741-6261

Rand Journal of Economics is a peer-reviewed academic journal specializing in industrial organization, microeconomics, and applied theory. It publishes empirical and theoretical research on market structure, antitrust, regulation, and related policy issues. The journal is known for influential articles that have shaped debate among scholars associated with universities, research institutes, and policy bodies.

History

The journal was established in 1970 amid debates involving scholars linked to RAND Corporation, University of Chicago, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, and Stanford University. Early contributors included authors affiliated with NBER, Cowles Foundation, Brookings Institution, Hoover Institution, and Centre for Economic Policy Research. During the 1970s and 1980s it published work that intersected with discussions at Federal Trade Commission, Department of Justice (United States), Congressional Budget Office, Council of Economic Advisers, and international organizations such as Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and World Bank. Landmark methodological influences drew on debates from conferences at Bell Laboratories, National Bureau of Economic Research, Institute for Advanced Study, and American Enterprise Institute.

The 1990s and 2000s saw contributions from scholars associated with Princeton University, Yale University, University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, University of California, Berkeley, London School of Economics, University of Oxford, and University of Cambridge, expanding topics to include technology markets discussed at Silicon Valley firms and regulatory cases at European Commission. The journal’s editorial trajectory paralleled litigation and policy episodes such as United States v. Microsoft Corp., Bell System breakup debates, and international merger reviews involving firms like General Electric, Siemens, and ExxonMobil.

Scope and Editorial Policy

The journal focuses on industrial organization, applied microeconomics, and theoretical analyses cited by practitioners at Federal Communications Commission, Securities and Exchange Commission, Food and Drug Administration, and Environmental Protection Agency. It accepts submissions that combine rigorous modeling with empirical strategies familiar to researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, Northwestern University, Duke University, University of Michigan, and Cornell University. The editorial policy emphasizes originality, relevance to antitrust or regulatory practice, and robustness of inference, reflecting intellectual traditions linked to figures who taught at Princeton, Stanford, Chicago, MIT and contributed to debates at American Economic Association meetings, Econometric Society conferences, and panels sponsored by International Monetary Fund or World Trade Organization.

Peer review procedures mirror standards used at journals like American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Econometrica, and Review of Economic Studies, with anonymized referee reports and editorial consultation involving scholars affiliated with IZA Institute of Labor Economics, CEPR, CESifo, Kennedy School, and national academies such as National Academy of Sciences.

Publication and Access

Published quarterly, the journal has distribution channels used by academic presses and policy libraries at institutions such as Springer, Wiley-Blackwell, and major university presses. Subscriptions are held by libraries at Harvard University Library, Bodleian Library, Library of Congress, British Library, and corporate research centers in Tokyo, London, Brussels, and Beijing. The journal’s content has been indexed in services like JSTOR, RePEc, EconLit, and databases used by researchers at ProQuest and EBSCO. Authors affiliated with National Bureau of Economic Research working papers, SSRN, and working groups at Brookings often cite articles from the journal when preparing briefs for agencies such as Department of Justice (United States) and courts including United States Supreme Court and appellate tribunals in European Union member states.

Notable Articles and Contributions

Articles in the journal have addressed market power issues central to cases such as United States v. AT&T, United States v. Microsoft Corp., and merger reviews like United States v. General Electric Co. (historical antitrust contexts), while also influencing scholarship on platform markets linked to Amazon (company), Google LLC, Facebook, Inc., Apple Inc., and Netflix, Inc.. Seminal contributions drew on methods developed by economists associated with Milton Friedman-era scholars, George Stigler, Ronald Coase, and later theorists connected to Paul Samuelson, Kenneth Arrow, Harold Hotelling, Jean Tirole, Bengt Holmström, Oliver Williamson, and Joseph Stiglitz. Empirical studies published in the journal used datasets from firms like Walmart Inc., Toyota Motor Corporation, General Motors, and regulatory filings before Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and European Commission Directorate-General for Competition.

The journal has published influential pieces on auction design relevant to Federal Communications Commission spectrum auctions, drawing on auction theory linked to William Vickrey and Paul Milgrom, and on entry deterrence literature that informed cases in California and New York utilities regulation. Comparative institutional analyses referenced court decisions such as Brown v. Board of Education only in methodological analogies, and policy debates involving North Atlantic Treaty Organization procurement or World Trade Organization dispute settlement when markets intersect with international trade.

Editors and Editorial Board

The editorial leadership has included economists with appointments at RAND Corporation, Harvard University, Stanford University, Princeton University, MIT, University of Chicago, Yale University, Columbia University, and London School of Economics. Editorial board members have been drawn from faculties at University of California, Berkeley, University of Toronto, University of Pennsylvania, University of Michigan, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Brown University, Vanderbilt University, Ohio State University, Tsinghua University, National University of Singapore, and policy institutions such as Federal Reserve Board, European Central Bank, and Bank of England.

Visiting editors, associate editors, and referees often include scholars who have led organizations like National Bureau of Economic Research, Institute for Fiscal Studies, Centre for Economic Performance, and winners of awards including Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, John Bates Clark Medal, and Frisch Medal.

Impact and Reception

The journal is widely cited in academic literature indexed by Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar, and it influences policy discussions at Federal Trade Commission, Department of Justice (United States), European Commission, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and central banks such as Federal Reserve System and European Central Bank. Its articles have been referenced in court filings before the United States Supreme Court, Court of Justice of the European Union, and national competition authorities in Germany, France, United Kingdom, Japan, and Australia. Citation metrics place it among specialist journals alongside Journal of Industrial Economics, International Journal of Industrial Organization, Review of Industrial Organization, and general-interest journals like Journal of Political Economy and Quarterly Journal of Economics.

Category:Economics journals