RAND research on population and aging analyzes demographic and immigration trends and explores a range of concerns, from family planning to religion to discrimination. RAND also addresses vulnerable populations—such as the elderly and the poor—analyzing retirement and other aspects of financial decisionmaking, welfare, and end-of-life issues.
Reliable birth control contributed to economic development by reducing women's risk of dropping out of school associated with early childbearing and high fertility rates, contributing in turn to increases in women's labor force participation, the continuity of their careers, and the standard of living of women, children and families, writes Chloe Bird.
"Why Nations Fail" is a sweeping attempt to explain the gut-wrenching poverty that leaves 1.29 billion people in the developing world struggling to live on less than $1.25 a day. You might expect it to be a bleak, numbing read. It's not. It's bracing, garrulous, wildly ambitious and ultimately hopeful, writes Warren Bass.
For their part, a younger generation of female jihadists has come to believe that acts of violence can be just as liberating politically and spiritually for women as for men, writes Karla Cunningham.
The results from Montgomery County demonstrate that an integrative housing policy can be an effective form of school policy for disadvantaged children, writes Heather Schwartz.
We cannot wish away serious ecological issues, such as the steady increase in greenhouse gases or the steady decrease in critical resources (e.g., phosphates). But population growth per se need not portend ecological catastrophe, writes Martin Libicki.
Though Awlaki will be difficult to replace—since he effectively coupled both propaganda and operations—al-Qaeda will continue to plan attacks overseas against Western targets, writes Seth Jones.
Drivers 65 and older are only 16 percent more likely per mile driven to cause a traffic accident than are drivers ages 25–64. And their total contribution to the nation's traffic accidents is surprisingly small, writes David S. Loughran.
In his inaugural address, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu clearly accepted his dual challenge: rebuild a city that welcomes its still-displaced residents, and make long-needed changes to attract newcomers as well, writes Melissa Flournoy.
Certainly, ideology should play a role in public policy decisions. But when many policies—regardless of their merits—are simply off-limits for ideological reasons, then the nation as a whole has a problem, writes James A. Thomson.
If we observe that high crime and low levels of religious belief or high levels of belief and low crime go hand in hand, how should we interpret that correlation? asks Paul Heaton.
While traffic congestion plagues many cities, Los Angeles stands apart, routinely ranking first for both total and per-capita congestion delay, with an estimate annual cost at close to $10 billion, writes Paul Sorensen.
Four years after Hurricane Katrina, many people in the Gulf Coast region are still "just surviving," struggling with the economic devastation and the physical and psychological toll of these kinds of disasters, write Anita Chandra and Joie Acosta.
The increasing importance of the G-20 summits is testimony to the growing role emerging states now play in managing the international economy. But integrating these newcomers into the global community is unlikely to be straightforward or simple, writes Lowell H. Schwartz.
President Obama called the arrest of Professor Henry Gates a "teachable moment." This is a moment to learn the facts of race and policing these days. Racial profiling has indeed been an ugly reality for many years. But our research finds little evidence that it continues to be a major problem, write Greg Ridgeway and Nelson Lim.
China's population is aging quickly.
To address the issue, there are basically two options: try to slow it down; develop policies and programs to deal with whatever negative consequences there might be, writes Linda G. Martin.
Mississippi can work to find smart ways to address the chronic social and economic problems that have plagued the state for decades — now, not in some far-flung future, writes Melissa Flournoy.
The lawlessness along the mexican
border has gone way beyond a
local crime wave: there has been
a dramatic increase in armed robberies, not by lone gunmen but by heavily armed gangs. Kidnappings and homicides are way up—and not just murders but beheadings.... It is starting to look like a terrorist campaign, writes Brian Michael Jenkins.
Too often we talk only about the ongoing challenges facing education, health care, transportation and economic development across the Gulf South — Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.... We need to determine new ways to work together across state lines to focus on solutions that will benefit the entire region, writes Melissa Flournoy.
Police stops of pedestrians and vehicles, while an important tool in police work, can fuel tensions if not handled properly. Law enforcement agencies must develop plans to address the disparities and tensions that result from their efforts, write K. Jack Riley and Greg Ridgeway.
While attention is focused on efforts to make the world go green, the world is also changing dramatically because it is going gray. People over age 65 are starting to outnumber those under 16 in many countries, write Jonathan Grant and Stijn Hoorens.
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