2013

Tobacco and Smoking
commentary
Big Tobacco vs. Tobacco Regulation and Control: An Even Match?
William G. Shadel
Aug 26, 2013
The RAND Blog
Anti-tobacco policies that have clear scientific support will strengthen the FDA's regulatory position. While the evidence base is solid in this area, it needs to be much stronger and broader if the TCA is going to have any lasting success against the industry.
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Postsecondary Education
commentary
Making Colleges More Affordable
Rafiq Dossani
Aug 26, 2013
The RAND Blog
President Obama has released a plan to make colleges more affordable for the middle class. The plan calls for linking federal student aid to college performance, capping student loans at 10% of income, and incentivizing innovative instructional approaches to cut costs and improve quality.
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Al Qaida
commentary
What Would al Qaeda's PowerPoints Say?
Brian Michael Jenkins @BrianMJenkins
Aug 23, 2013
The RAND Blog and GlobalSecurity.org
Over the last 12 years, the campaign against al Qaeda has dominated U.S. policy. From this perspective, al Qaeda has been a beneficiary of the Arab uprisings in general and of recent events in Egypt and Syria in particular. The longer the turmoil continues, the greater al Qaeda's possible gains, writes Brian Michael Jenkins.
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International Diplomacy
commentary
A Measured Red-Line Response
Julie E. Taylor
Aug 23, 2013
The RAND Blog
It was a year ago that President Obama declared the use of chemical weapons by the Assad government to be a red line that would bring a swift and sure U.S. response. Not acting threatens the credibility not just of Obama's red-line threat, but of all U.S. threats going forward, writes Julie Taylor.
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commentary
Protecting Young People from Harm: The Role of Age-Restricted Sales
Emily Scraggs
Aug 22, 2013
The RAND Blog
Local authorities in the UK can benefit from a new toolkit developed by RAND Europe to measure the impacts and outcomes of local regulations designed to restrict sales of products harmful to children.
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Egypt
blog
Dalia Dassa Kaye: Don't Cut Economic Aid to Egypt
Aug 22, 2013
It's pretty clear that the U.S. administration is frustrated with the way Egypt is going, says Dalia Dassa Kaye. There are few good choices. What is unfortunate is the development of cutting economic assistance to Egypt. That is sending exactly the wrong message to the Egyptian people and the broader region.
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Military Information Technology Systems
commentary
Calling for a Time-Out in the Army Intelligence Software Debate
Christopher G. Pernin, Isaac R. Porche III
Aug 21, 2013
The RAND Blog
The Army's Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS) program has been getting much attention from Congress, and its future was the subject of a heated exchange between the Army's Chief of Staff General Raymond Odierno and Representative Duncan Hunter in May.
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International Diplomacy
commentary
Is Turkey Rethinking the Syrian Kurd Issue?
F. Stephen Larrabee
Aug 21, 2013
CNN
An autonomous Kurdish region that remains an integral part of Syria, even one dominated by the PYD (the Democratic Union, the largest and best organized Kurdish opposition party), would be far less dangerous than one dominated by forces affiliated with al Qaeda.
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Diet and Eating Habits
commentary
The Skinny on the Freshman 15
Deborah A. Cohen
Aug 21, 2013
USA Today
Colleges should acknowledge their responsibility not to put their students at risk for weight gain, obesity and the host of chronic diseases related to poor diets, writes Deborah Cohen. Students have to make their own food choices, but it's colleges who're setting the table.
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Iraq
commentary
Reading the Tea Leaves in Iraq
Jason H. Campbell @JasonHCampbell
Aug 19, 2013
War on the Rocks
The United States should not be too quick to write off Iraq based on recent violent trends, says Jason Campbell. After all, if there is anything that should be remembered from years past it's that the Iraqi populace can endure astonishing levels of violence and still maintain confidence in the survival of the state.
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Cyber Warfare
commentary
Don't Buy the Cyberhype
Martin C. Libicki
Aug 16, 2013
Foreign Affairs
Although the risk of a debilitating cyberattack is real, the perception of that risk is far greater than it actually is, writes Martin Libicki. In fact, a major cyberattack of the kind intelligence officials fear has not taken place in the 21 years since the Internet became accessible to the public.
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Egypt
blog
Things Could Get Worse in Egypt
Aug 15, 2013
As terrible as yesterday was in Egypt, things could get worse, says Jeffrey Martini, a RAND Middle East analyst. While the military-ruled government appears to be trying to break the neck of the Muslim Brotherhood, one shoe that hasn't dropped is the arrest of senior Muslim Brotherhood leaders.
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Summer Learning
blog
Early Planning Key to Effective Summer Learning Programs
Aug 14, 2013
RAND education experts Jennifer McCombs and Catherine Augustine hosted a news media conference call to discuss the best steps school districts can take to provide the most effective and rewarding summer learning programs.
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q&a
Surprise: Q and A with Dave Baiocchi and D. Steven Fox
Aug 14, 2013
Dave Baiocchi, RAND senior engineer and professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School, and assistant policy analyst D. Steven Fox discuss their new study,
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Electronic Medical Records
commentary
How Electronic Health Records Can Lead to Care Coordination
Robert S. Rudin @rsrudin
Aug 13, 2013
The RAND Blog
Inadequate care coordination is a major problem in health care delivery, but information technology is emerging as an important tool for enhancing coordination and, ultimately, improving the delivery of care, writes Robert Rudin.
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