What Knowledge and Skills Does the U.S. Air Force Need to Compete with China? The U.S. Air Force faces a critical opportunity—and urgent necessity—to systematically cultivate, track, and integrate China-relevant expertise across its workforce. This includes language skills, cul...

During previous periods of strategic competition, the U.S. military built its competitive advantage by cultivating deep regional expertise.

New research can help the U.S. Air Force define and determine how to build the capabilities needed to compete effectively with China.

Trump Retirement Accounts: Costs and Savings President Trump promised to provide Americans without retirement savings accounts a government-sponsored plan that would match up to $1,000 a year in individual contributions. This would help workers ...

A retirement plan like the one President Trump recently outlined would not only give workers a cushion for retirement. With enough time, it could also start winding back the federal deficit. https://bit.ly/4sLvZp1

Disentangle the Tax Code with a New RAND Tool RAND's Tax Code Analysis Tool helps researchers and policymakers better understand the intricacies of U.S. federal tax code, allowing users to represent the entire tax code as a graph and quickly expl...

💸 Today is Tax Day.

RAND researchers developed an innovative new tool to disentangle the tax code and help policymakers better understand the ripple effects of proposed policy changes.

See how it works: https://bit.ly/3QaCRhi

What Support Do States Want from the Department of Education? Interviews with state education agency leaders asked what federal assistance has been useful to them, what gets in the way of receiving it, and how future investments could better address states' needs.

The U.S. Department of Education has historically played an important role in supporting state education agencies. What types of technical support do states value most?

Making Housing Affordable: Q&A with Jason Ward Jason Ward, director of the RAND Housing Center, discusses findings from his recent research, why housing has become so unaffordable, and ways to address the housing crisis.

California is the "poster child" for letting housing affordability get out of hand, says RAND's Jason Ward.

"If you can address the problems in California, you're going to be able to address those same problems more easily almost anywhere else."

Improving the Coast Guard's Waterways Safety Risk Assessment Tools A review of the U.S. Coast Guard's waterways safety risk assessment tools focused on their effectiveness in addressing the range of safety risks, identifying overlap and gaps, and determining their ab...

How can the U.S. Coast Guard make its waterways safety risk assessment tools work better together?

How Russia Is Intercepting Communications from European Satellites Russia has been secretly stalking European spacecraft since its invasion of Ukraine in 2014. What can Europe do about it?

What can Europe do to address aggressive actions by Russia in space?

Aleix Nadal Campos of @randeurope.org discusses:

Trump Retirement Accounts: Costs and Savings President Trump promised to provide Americans without retirement savings accounts a government-sponsored plan that would match up to $1,000 a year in individual contributions. This would help workers ...

President Trump recently promised to provide workers without retirement savings accounts a government-sponsored plan.

That could save federal and state governments trillions of dollars over time, according to RAND research.

"Not only are lower- and middle-income people leaving California, but you see a lot of higher-earning, highly educated people leaving to have a much higher quality of life in places like Texas." www.sacbee.com/entertainment/living/art...

Making Housing Affordable: Q&A with Jason Ward Jason Ward, director of the RAND Housing Center, discusses findings from his recent research, why housing has become so unaffordable, and ways to address the housing crisis.

Can America pull itself out of a historic housing crisis?

New Q&A with RAND's Jason Ward:

Educator Turnover Stabilizes After the Pandemic Teacher and principal retirements and resignations in the United States continue to decline from their peak during the COVID‑19 pandemic. Still, teacher turnover remains elevated in urban districts.

📉 Our latest estimates of educator turnover rates suggest a steady decline in retirements and resignations among both teachers and principals.

What Options Does the U.S. Have in Iran? RAND's Raphael Cohen argues that the war has already succeeded in setting the Iranian threat back, and the United States retains multiple pathways forward. The real question is how much more risk shou...

"To the extent that the operation [in Iran] has struggled, it's not because the United States lacks options," argues RAND's Raphael Cohen. "Rather, it's because each pathway comes with trade-offs." https://bit.ly/4v9BRK7

Finding Common Ground in AGI Strategy Debates For humanity to realize the benefits of artificial intelligence it needs to develop an ecosystem enabling human-AI coexistence in which humans retain meaningful agency and a global security architectu...

Any AGI strategy, whether it favors acceleration or caution, "must demonstrate that it preserves a sufficient level of human agency and choice to, at minimum, allow course correction."

New paper: https://bit.ly/4dgAEKB

Strategic Cooperation on Artificial Intelligence AI offers significant benefits such as accelerating scientific and technological progress but may also pose challenges that individual states cannot address alone. International cooperation will be cr...

We examine how actors in the AI realm—states, firms, groups, and individuals—might promote beneficial AI development and mitigate risk through strategic cooperation.

AI may revive old-school tradecraft even as it transforms intelligence work As electronic messages get harder to trust, human meetings will become more important than ever, a former CIA agent argues.

"My view is that [HUMINT] will have to have a human element—a real, essential human element—for the foreseeable future." www.defenseone.com/technology/2026/04/AI-tr...

Youth Are Using Chatbots as Therapists. What Are the Risks? Young people are increasingly turning to AI for mental health support—even in moments of crisis. Ryan McBain discusses this trend, the risks it poses, and how to make using AI tools safer for those se...

"I think AI can be helpful a lot of the time … but I do think that [people] should be cautious and see AI as a complement, not a substitute, and talk to real [mental health] professionals."

🎧 New episode of the Policy Minded podcast:

Strategic Cooperation on Artificial Intelligence AI offers significant benefits such as accelerating scientific and technological progress but may also pose challenges that individual states cannot address alone. International cooperation will be cr...

As AI technology advances and its global impacts deepen, cooperation among countries and stakeholders may be crucial for harnessing benefits and addressing risks.

More Students Use AI for Homework and Believe It Harms Critical Thinking In 2025, more U.S. students from middle school through college used artificial intelligence to help with homework. And 60 percent of them worry that using AI will harm their critical thinking skills.

Growing numbers of U.S. students from middle school through college report using AI to help with homework.

Yet many of these same students express concerns about how using AI for schoolwork might harm their critical thinking skills.

More Students Use AI for Homework and Believe It Harms Critical Thinking In 2025, more U.S. students from middle school through college used artificial intelligence to help with homework. And 60 percent of them worry that using AI will harm their critical thinking skills.

New survey results: 67% of students think that the more they use AI for schoolwork, the more it will hurt their critical thinking skills.

Getting 'Rural' Right: How a Better Definition Can Drive Better Policy Improving rural policy begins with measuring rural realities more precisely. Until we define “rural” by the challenges people face rather than the land they occupy, we risk designing policies that loo...

"Rural life is defined less by population counts and more by the distance to essential services, such as health care."

Gaza's Reconstruction Must Begin with Its Youth The loss of safety, opportunity, and a sense of normalcy have shaped how young Palestinians regulate emotions and think about the future. Anxiety, depression, and despair are widespread. Left unaddres...

"International policymakers and multilateral institutions must give Gaza's social foundations the same attention as its physical infrastructure. Youth rehabilitation is a strategic investment in regional stability."

Figure 1. Total Population in China, Japan, India, and the United States: 1950-2050 is a line graph charting, with four lines, population in each of the listed countries. Source: Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Population Division, 2024 Revision of World Population Prospects, database, United Nations, 2024.

China has one of the world's lowest fertility rates, and its population decline is accelerating.

By 2050, China's population could lose 250 million people from its current 1.4 billion. That's nearly three-quarters of the current U.S. population. https://bit.ly/4sMUHF5

What do students lose when they rely on AI for homework? Heather Schwartz, co-director of the American Youth Panel at Rand, says over-reliance on AI could hurt important critical thinking skills students might need as adults in the workforce.

"The fact that the kids themselves are saying that [using AI for homework] is harming critical-thinking skills I think should be a canary in the coal mine." www.marketplace.org/episode/2026/03/23/what-...

Gaza's Reconstruction Must Begin with Its Youth The loss of safety, opportunity, and a sense of normalcy have shaped how young Palestinians regulate emotions and think about the future. Anxiety, depression, and despair are widespread. Left unaddres...

A loss of safety, opportunity, and a sense of normalcy have shaped an entire generation of young Palestinians.

"Left unaddressed, this latent damage will outlast any ceasefire or physical reconstruction."

Getting 'Rural' Right: How a Better Definition Can Drive Better Policy Improving rural policy begins with measuring rural realities more precisely. Until we define “rural” by the challenges people face rather than the land they occupy, we risk designing policies that loo...

"Until we define 'rural' by the challenges people face rather than the land they occupy," says RAND's David Luckey, "we risk designing policies that look good on paper but ultimately fail rural Americans."

Japan Should Help Sink China's Invasion Fleet Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said that a Chinese blockade of Taiwan might constitute a threat to Japan's survival. It was not a war pledge. But a Japanese commitment regarding Taiwan should ...

In the face of a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, Tokyo could make a commitment to the U.S.-Japan alliance—and to Japan's own survival.

RAND researchers explain how. ⤵

Understanding the Impacts of Economic Shocks in the United States The ability to anticipate recessions and develop appropriate policy responses requires a strong understanding of economic shocks and their macroeconomic impacts. A new typology of 20 types of such sho...

This new report examines 20 different types of economic shocks in the United States and offers a framework for understanding how those shocks affect the broader economy. https://bit.ly/4rrBFD5

China's Aging Population and What It Means for Security Falling birth rates and rising life expectancy mean that China's population is aging fast. As China's workforce shrinks and financial pressures grow, the impact will be felt worldwide, changing global...

China is facing a population upheaval.

How China handles the crisis will shape not only its own future but also the stability of the region and the global economy.

Iran’s Escalation Strategy Won’t Work Tehran's “escalate to de-escalate” strategy could backfire. By striking both friends and foes in the region, Iran may end up poorer, weaker, and more isolated than ever.

"Even if the regime survives U.S. and Israeli bombs, it will come out this conflict poorer, weaker, and more isolated than ever before."

Understanding the Impacts of Economic Shocks in the United States The ability to anticipate recessions and develop appropriate policy responses requires a strong understanding of economic shocks and their macroeconomic impacts. A new typology of 20 types of such sho...

This new report examines economic shocks in the United States, providing insights that can help anticipate recessions and develop appropriate policy responses.