The RAND Blog

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A Proposed COVID-19 Cure, Economic Decline, North Korea: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on the unintended consequences of a proposed COVID-19 treatment, another wave of economic destruction, North Korea after Kim Jong Un, and more.

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State Police Powers: A Less Than Optimal Remedy for the COVID-19 Disease

How can the United States face what may be a growing threat of pandemics without having to exercise powers so extraordinary that they not only restrict fundamental rights and liberties, but also damage or jeopardize the economic livelihood of so many?

Douglas C. Ligor @DougLigor

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In Pittsburgh: Feeding the Needy, and Protecting Workers on the Front Lines of the Pandemic

Access to food could be critical to getting through the COVID-19 pandemic. Local leaders and policymakers may find themselves having to devote new resources to make sure all citizens have access to food and to protect those on the front lines.

Andrea Richardson @ASRichardson3, Tamara Dubowitz @TamaraDubowitz

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From Lockdown to Locked Out: Coronavirus and the Looming Crisis in Rental Housing

Housing security is vital to individual and collective well-being. It's also a key component in the nation's economic performance. The looming coronavirus eviction crisis suggests the need to address the systemic problem of housing affordability and security now.

Alina I. Palimaru, Jason M. Ward @jason_m_ward, et al.

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Your Gift to Health Care Providers, Yourself, and Your Family

A whispered secret in medicine is that resuscitative efforts do not typically save a life. In anticipation of the pandemic surge, hospitals are discussing blanket do-not-resuscitate orders for patients dying from the coronavirus. It is time to publicly and privately discuss the limits of cardiopulmonary resuscitation so patients stricken with COVID-19 can make informed end-of-life decisions and make those decisions known to their closest relatives.

Stefan Timmermans, Chloe E. Bird @ChloeBirdPhD

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Be Wary of Proposals for Less Defense Budget Transparency

The Pentagon has asked Congress to end the requirement that it make public an unclassified version of the Future Years Defense Program—the department's budget plans for at least the next five years. Although some information needs to be classified, the value of transparency for public debate and oversight in a democracy outweighs the marginal intelligence gains to U.S. adversaries.

Miranda Priebe @MirandaPriebe

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The Unintended Consequences of a Proposed Cure for COVID-19

The very discussion of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine as therapeutic options against COVID-19 has decreased their availability for proven treatments, exacerbated global shortages, fueled a rampant counterfeit drug market in Africa, and worsened trade tensions. What can be done to deal with these unintended consequences?

Samantha McBirney, Sangita M. Baxi @sangitabaxi, et al.

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Do We Know How to Treat Alcohol Misuse in Women?

Despite the many clinical trials that have demonstrated the effectiveness and safety of treatments for alcohol use disorder, we still know little about whether men and women respond differently to treatment. Without knowing whether recommended treatments are effective for women, women are vulnerable to the consequences of alcohol misuse.

Kristie L. Gore, Sydne J. Newberry, et al.

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North Korea After Kim Jong Un: 'How' Matters More Than 'Who'

With rumors swirling that Kim Jong Un has suffered a health crisis, some are already asking who might succeed him as leader of North Korea. But who is not the most important question. What will matter more is what the new regime does to establish its legitimacy and how the United States and its allies respond.

Soo Kim

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Supply Chain Disruptions Due to COVID-19 and Social Distancing

There are significant epidemiological and economic risks and uncertainties with physical distancing policies put into effect in the United States to reduce the growth of COVID-19. We have estimated the economy-wide impacts of a set of these policies to provide a sense of their likely economic toll.

Aaron Strong @resourceecon, Jonathan W. Welburn @jwwelburn

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What Americans Think of the News—and What That Means for Democracy

RAND researchers asked a nationally representative sample of adults about their news-consumption habits. The answers reveal clues about what it might take to address Truth Decay, the decline of facts in U.S. public life.

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How the Global Community Can Cooperate to Defeat COVID-19 and Recover

The G20 met in an extraordinary virtual summit March 26 to discuss the shared global challenge of COVID-19. G20 countries could show the way for the rest of the world to cooperate on present challenges and prepare for public policy challenges moving forward.

Charles P. Ries @charles_ries

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Why We Really Don't Know What Happens If Kim Jong Un Dies

The potential changes in the North Korean regime pose more questions than they answer. How prepared are observers and keen watchers from the “outside world” for a North Korean contingency? Should there be a power vacuum in Pyongyang, will U.S. policy toward the DPRK remain largely as-is?

Soo Kim

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U.S. Gun Policy, Reopening Schools, Prepping for a Hurricane: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on what scientific evidence says about the effects of U.S. gun laws, how schools may have to change when they reopen, preparing for a COVID-19 hurricane, and more.

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The Second Wave of COVID Consequences

Economists closely watch measures of consumer confidence because they are highly predictive economic indicators. New consumer data reveals likely long-term and prolonged economic fallout.

Kathryn A. Edwards, Jeffrey B. Wenger