Central America

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U.S. Failure in Afghanistan, Critical Race Theory Bans, Income Inequality: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on how early mistakes led to America's failure in Afghanistan, the potential effects of critical race theory bans, an art installation that breaks down RAND data on income inequality, and more.

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Costa Rica Leads the Way in Cutting Carbon Emissions

Almost every country has pledged to slash carbon emissions to slow the gears of global warming. Costa Rica's plan provides a glimpse of what a carbon-neutral future will look like. It shows how nations can take action and make investments that hold up, regardless of what future comes to pass.

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Previous Disasters Provide Important Lessons for Central America's Recovery from Hurricanes

As the global community works to assist Central America in recovering from the disastrous 2020 hurricane season, other recent recovery efforts offer helpful lessons, both for the governments of the region as well as outsiders providing resources and support.

Shelly Culbertson @SC_Culbertson, Ismael Arciniegas Rueda, et al.

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Restoring Public Trust, COVID-19 and Thanksgiving, Vaccinating Teachers: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on how the Biden-Harris administration can restore public trust, the risk of Thanksgiving becoming a super-spreader event, why teachers should be among the first to get a COVID19 vaccination, and more.

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Childhood Trauma, Space Traffic, China–Russia Relations: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on a program that helps children exposed to trauma, making outer space safer, tighter China–Russia relations, and more.

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Election 2016: The International Issues

America's next president will face challenges that test the fundamentals of world order. RAND experts have outlined key decisions, the dangers involved, and the least-bad options that now often pass for good ones.

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Understanding and Addressing the Unaccompanied Minor Immigration Issue

The number of unaccompanied child immigrants apprehended at the U.S. southwest border is on the rise again, the majority of them coming not from Mexico, but from Central America. Research could provide valuable information to policymakers as they try to find ways to help young immigrants.

Ernesto F. L. Amaral, Daniel M. Gerstein @Daniel_Gerstein

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In Latin America, Breaking the Cycle of Intimate-Partner Abuse One Handwritten Letter at a Time

Latin America has one of the highest rates of intimate-partner violence in the world, but a series of high-profile cases, including the murder of a journalist by her policeman husband, have propelled intimate-partner violence to the fore of Bolivia's public agenda.

Mahlet Atakilt Woldetsadik

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A Summer Reading List for Congress

No matter how policymakers spend their break—meeting with home-state constituents, traveling abroad with congressional delegations, or spending time with family—this summer reading list contains policy ideas that can help them hit the ground running when they return.

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With Child Migrants Set to Become Students, Educators Must Prepare

Between 70,000 and 90,000 unaccompanied children are expected to cross the U.S.-Mexico border by year's end. Lost in an intensifying debate over U.S. immigration policy is the possibility that this wave will spill from shelters to schools. To best respond to this reality, policymakers and educators should consider what research says about educating migrant children.

Gabriella C. Gonzalez, Robert Bozick