April 2016

The Internet
commentary
Strong Winds Ahead for Cloud Computing: Can Data Localization Threaten Future Growth?
Marlon Graf, Jakub P. Hlavka, Bonnie L. Triezenberg
Apr 29, 2016
The RAND Blog
A growing number of constraints have been imposed around the world on information in the cloud, fueling concerns that the Internet, the economic engine of the information age, may become hopelessly fragmented.
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Integrative Medicine
essay
Science and the Healing Arts
Apr 29, 2016
Americans spend billions of dollars out of pocket seeking relief from chronic conditions in alternative schools of health, such as acupuncture or chiropractic. What would it take to more fully integrate such practices into the mainstream?
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Japan
commentary
Obama Should Visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Scott W. Harold
Apr 28, 2016
Newsweek
During his upcoming visit to Japan, President Obama will have an opportunity to do something that none of his predecessors have ever done: visit the first and last cities to suffer atomic bombings.
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Arctic Region
commentary
Will the Arctic Remain a Warm Spot in Chilly U.S.-Russia Relations?
Stephanie Pezard @StephaniePezard, Abbie Tingstad
Apr 28, 2016
U.S. News & World Report
The United States should continue with its policy of engagement with Russia within Arctic institutions. This is the only way to keep building on a track record of successful agreements that make the Arctic safer for all.
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Principals
commentary
Improving School Leadership: What Works
Rebecca Herman, Susan M. Gates
Apr 28, 2016
The RAND Blog
There is evidence that having strong school leaders is instrumental for improving the quality of teaching. But resource constraints and pressure to spend money directly on students have left interventions focused on principals largely overlooked. However, the new Every Student Succeeds Act may be changing the script.
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Health Economics
commentary
Public Funding of Medical Research Pays for Itself
Jon Sussex
Apr 27, 2016
The RAND Blog
Public and charity spending on medical research in the UK stimulates the private sector to spend more on R&D, not less. Each pound of public funding leads to an additional 99 pence investment from the private sector.
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Pittsburgh
blog
In Pittsburgh, a Day of Giving
Susan M. Sohler Everingham
Apr 27, 2016
All funds that RAND raises on May 3 through Pittsburgh's Day of Giving will be devoted to RAND's work taking place in southwestern Pennsylvania.
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commentary
What Is Being Done in Europe to Get Mothers Back to Work?
Emma Harte, Joanna Hofman @JoannaBHofman
Apr 26, 2016
BlogActive.eu
Helping mothers get back to work has many benefits. It supports women's economic independence, helps reduce the gender pay gap, and boosts the economy. Perhaps most importantly, it could keep more children out of poverty.
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Military Strategy
commentary
Presence vs. Warfighting: A Looming Dilemma in Defense Planning
Michael J. Mazarr @MMazarr
Apr 26, 2016
War on the Rocks
Presence involves global military deployments to counter potential aggressors, reassure allies, underwrite extended deterrence, build partner capacity, and more. It is now as important, in terms of its stabilizing and deterrent effect, as warfighting capabilities. Yet U.S. force posture falls short.
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Special Operations Forces
blog
Special Ops Women: A Conversation with Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
Apr 26, 2016
Best-selling author Gayle Tzemach Lemmon discusses how recent conflicts changed the role of U.S. military women, the missing story about women in uniform, and more.
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Evidence Based Health Practice
commentary
What Do Stakeholders Say About Comparative-Effectiveness Research?
Thomas W. Concannon @tconcannon, Virginia Kotzias, Dmitry Khodyakov, Gavin Fahey, Jennifer Graff
Apr 25, 2016
The RAND Blog
Insurers, employers, and industry are some of the stakeholder groups that are critical to the success of comparative-effectiveness research. Current research models may not provide stakeholders with all the information they need to support their involvement.
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Military Force Deployment
commentary
Study Finds Most Military Families Are Resilient in Face of Deployment
Sarah O. Meadows @SarahOMeadows, Benjamin Karney
Apr 22, 2016
The RAND Blog
Despite the fact that service members, spouses, and their children experience frequent deployments to combat zones throughout the world, a recent study of more than 2,700 military families found that they generally fare well and adapt effectively to the stresses of deployment.
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Immigration and Emigration
commentary
Understanding and Addressing the Unaccompanied Minor Immigration Issue
Ernesto F. L. Amaral, Daniel M. Gerstein @Daniel_Gerstein
Apr 22, 2016
The Hill
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.
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Russia
commentary
Outnumbered, Outranged, and Outgunned: How Russia Defeats NATO
David A. Shlapak, Michael Johnson
Apr 21, 2016
War on the Rocks
Today NATO is outnumbered, outranged, and outgunned by Russia in Europe and beset by a number of compounding factors that make the situation worse. But it is possible to begin restoring a more robust deterrent posture and to do so at a price tag that appears affordable.
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Tunisia
commentary
Tunisia Is an Arab Spring Success Story
Shelly Culbertson @SC_Culbertson
Apr 21, 2016
Observer
Tunisia has not unraveled into civil war like Syria or Libya. It has not undergone a counter-revolution that returned it to the autocracy of its pre-revolution days, like Egypt has. Tunisia is fragile, but its success is vital to the long-term stability and societal health of the Middle East.
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Refugees
commentary
Solutions for Educating Young Syrian Refugees
Shelly Culbertson @SC_Culbertson
Apr 21, 2016
Georgetown Journal of International Affairs
Approximately 1.5 million Syrian refugees are school-age children. They face a slew of struggles, not the least of which is the lack of education that they need to move forward in life. What can be done to improve the access to and quality of refugee education?
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