The RAND Blog

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Reflecting on the Past to Counter Future Terrorism

One Night with RAND brought together leaders in business, government, academia, and philanthropy to pay tribute to Brian Michael Jenkins and mark his 50-year affiliation with RAND and his substantial body of research on terrorism. Jenkins and other experts discussed the evolution of terrorism and strategies for countering it in the future.

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What Does America's Political Polarization Mean for Competition with China?

Political polarization in the United States potentially carries significant implications for America's strategic competition with China. Leaders in Washington will need to work to mitigate the effects of polarization and manage competition with China in a stable, effective manner.

Timothy R. Heath

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Veterans, Infrastructure, Middle East: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on the challenges facing veterans and their loved ones, a chance for bipartisan infrastructure policy, realignment in the Middle East, and more.

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The Case for Investing in a More Healthy and Engaged Health Workforce

Improving staff engagement leads to a variety of positive benefits. But defining and measuring engagement is not straightforward, and different demographic factors are associated with different levels of engagement. The National Health Service in England is looking at ways to increase engagement in its staff.

Christian Van Stolk, Marco Hafner

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Finding the Right Assessment Tool: Another Resource for Educators and Researchers

To teach something effectively, educators need to determine whether their instructional approaches are working, and make adjustments to those approaches as needed. The Assessment Work Group and RAND have developed tools to assist educators in finding and using assessments to measure social and emotional learning and higher-order cognitive competencies.

Laura S. Hamilton, Brian M. Stecher

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How Private Health Care Providers Could Better Serve Veterans

Almost a third of U.S. veterans live 40 miles or more from the nearest VA medical center, so the VA is trying to make it easier for them to use private providers closer to home. But it will take significant efforts to better prepare civilian doctors to deliver high-quality care to veterans.

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On Nurse Staffing Ballot Measure, Massachusetts Voters Should Look to Evidence from California

Massachusetts residents will soon vote on the Patient Safety Act, a mandate to increase nurse-to-patient ratios in acute care facilities. Evaluating existing data on the impact of a similar nurse staffing law implemented in California in 2004 may help inform voters as they head to the polls.

Mahshid Abir, Jason E. Goldstick, et al.

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The New AV Challenge: Creating a Universal Safety Framework

Autonomous vehicle developers are pursuing different safety strategies and technologies, making different claims, in different ways, about their systems. A universal framework could provide a more consistent and transparent view of progress in AV safety within and across the industry, better informing the public and policymakers.

Marjory S. Blumenthal @MarjorySB

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Tree of Life, Social Media, Korea: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, countering Russian social media influence, how Korea could unify, and more.

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In Refugee Vetting, How Good Is Good Enough?

A security policy that depends too heavily on vetting, and expects it to be foolproof, is likely to fall short. A better security standard the administration could consider is not whether vetting failures ever occur, but rather whether they pose an acceptable risk to the United States.

Ian Mitch @IanSMitch

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Is Major Realignment Taking Place in the Middle East?

The shifting alignments in the Middle East have intensified since the murder of the Saudi journalist Khashoggi in Istanbul. Turkey has drifted away from NATO and toward Iran and Russia. Like Tehran and Moscow, Ankara is now more anti-Western than at any point in recent memory. What does this mean for the United States?

Colin P. Clarke, Ariane M. Tabatabai

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Merkel's Departure: A Star Begins to Dim

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to not seek re-election may signal an end to two key features of post-WWII Europe.

James Dobbins @Jim_Dobbins

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An Inside Look at Life in the Army's Junior Ranks

History records the names of generals, not of the privates filling out supply forms, cleaning out trucks, or huffing through another training exercise. But those privates keep the U.S. Army running. RAND research provides their unfiltered take on life in the ranks.

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Japan's Chance to Shine?

Japan may never be a global leader in a way comparable to the United States. But Tokyo does have the power to provide critical leadership that will sustain key elements of the crumbling international order.

Jeffrey W. Hornung

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All Health Policy Is Local: The Case of the Individual Mandate Penalty in New York

As with many Affordable Care Act policies, how New York is dealing with the absence of the individual mandate penalty is a potent reminder that all health policy is local.

Christine Eibner @Chrissyeibner, Sarah A. Nowak, et al.