From the RAND Blog

Below, you'll find the most recent commentary from RAND experts on topics related to Asia. For a complete list of all commentaries by RAND staff, visit The RAND Blog.

  • pie chart illustration over a world map

    Blog

    Happy 80th Birthday, 'GDP' — Is It Not Time to Retire?

    Feb 1, 2014

    While there are merits to using GDP, it is clear that it fails to measure several important potential externalities to economic growth, such as environmental damage, poor working conditions, or violations of privacy rights.

  • Vice President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House John Boehner applaud as President Barack Obama finishes his State of the Union speech on Capitol Hill in Washington, January 28, 2014

    Blog

    State of the Union 2014: President Obama Calls for a Year of Action

    Jan 29, 2014

    Obama called for “a year of action” to achieve his 2014 agenda — from helping people sign up for health insurance, to immigration reform, to completing the mission in Afghanistan. RAND is committed to raising the level of public policy debates and offering evidence-based, actionable solutions.

  • Soldiers move to secure a helicopter landing zone in Paktika Province

    Blog

    Failure to Learn: Reflections on a Career in the Post-Vietnam Army

    Jan 24, 2014

    In the aftermath of a decade of war, the Army must have an objective, serious debate — one that it never engaged in after Vietnam — to understand its experiences, both good and bad.

  • North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends a ceremony of awarding party and state commendations to the exemplary officials, captains and fishermen in fisheries of the Korean People's Army

    Blog

    A Death in the Family

    Jan 21, 2014

    The ruthless purge of 67-year-old Jang Sung Taek appears to be the culmination of a power struggle that makes 30 year-old Kim Jong Un the undisputed supreme leader of North Korea.

  • Devyani Khobragade attends the India Studies Stony Brook University fundraiser event in Long Island, New York, December 8, 2013

    Blog

    U.S.-India Dispute: A Diplomat and a Double-Standard Laid Bare

    Jan 8, 2014

    From the perspective of India, not to mention Pakistan and many other nations, the United States expects privileges that it does not grant to others. If the U.S. subjects foreign visitors (particularly diplomats) to the strictest possible interpretation its own laws, it had better be prepared for other nations to do the same.

  • College students attending a lecture in Gurgaon, on the outskirts of New Delhi

    Blog

    India Embraces MOOCs, but What if It Is a 'Lousy Product'?

    Jan 7, 2014

    One hundred engineering colleges around India will rely heavily on virtual instruction under a new program. Given the amount India is investing, it is important to make the best possible use of the complex and evolving Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) model.

  • a redesignation ceremony at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma

    Blog

    The Battle of Futenma Isn't Over Yet

    Jan 3, 2014

    Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima's decision to grant the permit to build a U.S. Marine Corps airbase on an offshore landfill near the village of Henoko village is being hailed as an important breakthrough in U.S.-Japanese relations. Yet this is wishful thinking, says Stacie L. Pettyjohn.

  • Chinese marine surveillance ship sails near Japan Coast Guard vessels and a Japanese fishing boat in front of one of the disputed islands, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China

    Blog

    China, the United States, and Great Power Diplomacy

    Dec 26, 2013

    The United States doesn't care about a few islands half a world away, but it should care about how China throws its weight around, how it relates to its neighbors, and what it thinks it can get away with.