Applied Economics and Strategy

Evaluating the outcomes and impacts of existing policies and regulations is necessary to inform new policy and regulatory design. By leveraging analytical tools—including cost-benefit analyses, macroeconomic modeling, spatial and land-use modeling, and economic impact assessments—coupled with qualitative approaches through interviews and surveys, clients gain a more holistic understanding of the environments in which they work.

The RTI Center for Applied Economics and Strategy (CAES) provides data analysis, program evaluation, and strategic advice to support decision-making at the national, state, local, and international levels. Our public- and private-sector clients work at the nexus of scientific research, policymaking, and sustainable economic growth and development.  

Our multidisciplinary team brings intellectual rigor, creativity, and decades of practical domain-specific expertise to provide data and analyses to help clients make informed strategic planning and programmatic decisions related to: 

• resource prioritization, allocation, and accountability; 

• behavior, incentives, externalities, and choices from multiple vantage points; 

• environmental justice and the balance between who benefits and who pays; 

• target industries for growth supported by existing companies, innovation and entrepreneurial activity, and potential for long-term growth, competitiveness, and resilience; 

• non-market valuation of costs and benefits without formal markets and prices; 

• and tradeoffs for the sustainable use of scarce resources in the food, energy, and water nexus.