Marian Miner Cook
Athenaeum

A distinctive
feature of social and
cultural life at CMC

 

How Research Informs Policy: A Conversation with James Anderson

Thu, September 17, 2026
Dinner Program
James Anderson

James M. Anderson, director of the RAND Institute for Civil Justice and a senior behavioral scientist at RAND, has spent his career applying rigorous research to complex public policy challenges. His work examines how evidence can inform policy and decision-making across issues ranging from autonomous vehicle technology to the criminal justice system. His research has appeared in leading journals including the Harvard Law Review, Yale Law Journal, Stanford Law Review, and Journal of Law and Economics. In conversation with Professor Eric Helland, Anderson will explore the relationship between research and public policy, the challenges of translating evidence into effective policy, and the role rigorous analysis can play in addressing complex societal problems. The discussion reflects the principles that have guided the Lowe Institute for four decades: asking important questions, following the evidence, and applying research to issues of public importance.

James Anderson is the director of the RAND Institute for Civil Justice and a senior behavioral scientist at RAND. He has been the principal investigator on a wide range of projects, ranging from policy implications of autonomous vehicle technology to understanding the effects of indigent defense systems. He is widely published and has been funded by the National Institute of Justice, the National Institutes of Health, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the State of Pennsylvania, the Institute for Civil Justice, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Department of Defense, and the National Science Foundation. 

Anderson's work has appeared in the Harvard Law Review, the Yale Law Journal, the Stanford Law Review, the Journal of Law and Economics, the Oxford University Press, and in numerous RAND publications. He has presented to a wide variety of academic and professional audiences. He is a member of the American Law Institute. Before joining RAND, Anderson clerked for the Honorable Morton Greenberg of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and practiced law for ten years as an assistant federal defender representing death-sentenced prisoners. He received a J.D. from Yale Law School and a B.A. in ethics, politics, and economics from Yale University. 

James Anderson's Athenaeum presentation is co-sponsored by the Lowe Institute of Political Economy at CMC.

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Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum

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