Optimal is a small, economic and policy analysis research and consulting firm with offices in the Baltimore-Annapolis-Washington, DC area. Optimal is committed to supplying insightful program and policy evaluation, cost-benefit and effectiveness analyses, custom econometric modeling, and market analyses for decision makers in both the public and private sectors. Optimal does work for government at the federal, state, and local level, and works with nonprofits and businesses, as well. Optimal was established in February 2000 by Dr. Mark Turner, one of the nation’s leading economists on labor market policies and family formation. Prior to founding Optimal, Dr. Turner was a Research Scientist at the Institute for Policy Studies at Johns Hopkins University.