Pardee RAND Blog Posts

An Affordable Energy Transition Will Require Supportive and Sensible Regulation

The transition to decarbonize the grid and reduce emissions will be challenging, and customer bills may increase in the short term. Student Brian Wong and Professor Ismael Arciniegas Rueda say regulators can help keep utilities financially healthy and make a smoother energy transition possible.

Ismael Arciniegas Rueda, Brian Wong

A Case for Promoting Infrastructure Equity for the Olympics

In 2028, Los Angeles will host the Olympic Games for the third time. Cristian Cardenas (cohort '22) says a critical factor for successfully hosting will be for planners to ask hard questions early, so the community can collaborate with the organizing committee, informing its response to critical themes such as homes, health, transport, jobs, society, and culture.

Cristian Cardenas

ECOWAS: In Need of Help in Niger?

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu recently sought the Nigerian national legislature's backing for a possible military intervention by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to turn back a coup that toppled the government of Niger. As Tim Sotubo (cohort '22) writes, an ECOWAS intervention would have a better chance of succeeding if other nations joined the effort.

Oluwatimilehin Sotubo

How Do We Make Early Warning and Early Action for Food Security More Effective?

Although food security early warning early action (FS-EWEA) has a track record of reducing food insecurity, Professor Aaron Clark-Ginsberg and student Loveline Phillips explain that it is designed for rural settings, and effective action remains elusive. Extending FS-EWEA to the millions living in fragile urban contexts requires answering four critical questions.

Aaron Clark-Ginsberg @aclarkginsberg, Loveline Chizobam Phillips

Russia's War in Ukraine Could Reshape the Global Arms Market in Favor of China

The war in Ukraine is straining Russia's defense production, which is having downstream effects on Moscow's ability to export arms. Weilong Kong (cohort '18) says China has the opportunity, the incentive, and the capacity to gain from Russia's losses. As Russia relinquishes more of its share of the global arms market, there is not much standing in the way of China's success.

Weilong Kong

We Aren't Helpless in the Face of Increasing Fires and Smoke

Modernizing, better funding, and expanding wildland firefighting forces in North America won't make fires or smoke magically disappear. A massive paradigm shift is necessary, writes Jay Balagna (cohort '20), but he adds it's clear something needs to happen immediately too.

Jay Balagna

Social Studies Achievement Has Plummeted Nationally. Four Reasons This Trend Will Not Be Reversed Without Systemic Action

Results from the latest national social studies assessments show U.S. history scores continued a previous pattern of decline and civics scores declined for the first time ever. Student Melissa Diliberti and senior policy researcher Julia Kaufman say reversing these trends will require concerted effort and increased investments at all levels of the U.S. education system.

Julia H. Kaufman @juliahkaufman, Melissa Kay Diliberti

Woo and Diliberti: 'Don't Say Gay' Law Will Hurt Students and Teachers Across the U.S.

The Florida Board of Education recently expanded the scope of the state's Parental Rights in Education law, which restricts classroom discussions of gender identity and sexual orientation. Research by students Ashley Woo and Melissa Diliberti suggests the so-called “Don't Say Gay” bill is bad for students and educators—and not just in Florida.

Ashley Woo, Melissa Kay Diliberti

Amplifying Teachers' Voices: Q&A with Ashley Woo

Ashley Woo, an assistant policy researcher at RAND and a Ph.D. candidate at the Pardee RAND Graduate School, aims to bring teachers' perspectives into policymaking. In this interview, she discusses her research on teachers' responses to state restrictions on how they can address topics related to race and gender in the classroom.

Whether Democracy Is Eroding or on the Upswing Depends on What State You Live In

Voter laws, civic education opportunities, and trust in government are all important aspects of democracy that impact individuals' civic participation. If policymakers had better ways to measure and monitor this “civic infrastructure” beyond just voter turnout, a different, more complicated but complete picture of our democracy would likely emerge.

Melissa Kay Diliberti, Julia H. Kaufman @juliahkaufman

How Do We Make Early Warning and Early Action for Food Security More Effective?

Although food security early warning early action (FS-EWEA) has a track record of reducing food insecurity, Professor Aaron Clark-Ginsberg and student Loveline Phillips explain that it is designed for rural settings, and effective action remains elusive. Extending FS-EWEA to the millions living in fragile urban contexts requires answering four critical questions.

Aaron Clark-Ginsberg @aclarkginsberg, Loveline Chizobam Phillips

AI, ChatGPT, and Language as Technology: Q&A with William Marcellino

William Marcellino, a senior behavioral and social scientist at RAND and professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School, discusses the rapidly expanding reach of artificial intelligence, the challenges it could pose for both society and policymakers, and how the research community is poised to help.

Earthquake in Turkey, Syria: Insights from Pardee RAND Faculty

Thousands of people have been confirmed dead in one the strongest earthquakes to hit Turkey and Syria in the past century. As search-and-rescue missions ended and recovery began, Pardee RAND faculty and RAND researchers shared some of their initial thoughts.

Understanding Russia's Motivations, and Using Them

The concept of ontological security could help explain Putin's war on Ukraine and his regime's reasoning, write Khrystyna Holynska (cohort '20) and Professor Pauline Moore. It's about maintaining a continuous sense of self, and in this case, of state identity. Putin may have deemed the invasion necessary to maintain a sense of continuity and order, where order is Russia's continued adversarial relationship with the West.

Khrystyna Holynska, Pauline Moore

Embracing Intrinsic Cultural Advantages in Innovation

The United States has long enjoyed the benefits of novel technology, but it could lose ground soon as other countries advance. Will Shumate and Tim Marler ask, could it be time for the United States to embrace the advantages in innovation that it holds relative to near-peers like China?

Will Shumate, Timothy Marler

Rebuilding Ukraine

As Khrystyna Holynska (cohort '20) and professors William Courtney and Howard Shatz write, by leveraging better investment conditions and reforms and broad international support, Ukraine could carry out a well-executed reconstruction program. It might repair much of the war damage and help Ukraine move into the ranks of faster-growing European economies.

William Courtney @courtneywmh, Khrystyna Holynska, et al.

Student, Prof Consider Continuity of Government in Ukraine

To reduce the risks of government collapse, Ukraine's leadership might accelerate preparations to ensure the continuity of government. Some steps are doubtless underway but out of public view, write student Khrystyna Holynska and Prof. William Courtney.

William Courtney @courtneywmh, Khrystyna Holynska

More Than Green: Leveraging Green Bonds to Invest in Greater Climate Resilience

The significance of green bonds may depend not only on having a lot of them, write Karishma Patel (cohort '17) and Prof. Michelle Miro, but also on carefully developing, investing, and tracking projects against the larger goal of climate resilience.

Karishma V. Patel, Michelle E. Miro

Malaria Vaccine May Not Eliminate Need to Combat Counterfeit Medicines

The newly announced malaria vaccine could be a critical tool to combat the tremendous socioeconomic burden malaria causes. But Professors Krishna Kumar, Todd Richmond, and Samantha McBirney argue that global achievements in reducing malaria cases and deaths in the past decades may be in danger of significant reversal if the problem of counterfeiting continues.

Samantha McBirney, Krishna B. Kumar, et al.

Married Moms Aren't Striking Workers, but They Are Saying the Same Thing

If we are in the middle of a labor shortage, recruiting people back into the labor force is key to sustaining a recovery. Prof. Kathryn Edwards says the historic work choices of married mothers reveal a lot about what might lure people back into the workforce, especially when—even if they want the income—there are competing forces at play.

Kathryn A. Edwards