Tobias Sytsma

This report examines climate adaptation strategies for 25 National Critical Functions (NCFs) at risk of disruption from climate change. The focus is on impact pathways, each of which is a combination of climate drivers (such as drought and flooding) and impact mechanisms (such as physical damage and workforce shortages) affecting a given NCF. The emphasis is on strategies that owner-operators of critical functions might implement.

Researchers evaluated the impact that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has had on meeting the goals of eliminating U.S. imports of goods made with forced labor and eliminating the use of forced labor globally. This report discusses methods of evaluating the department's impact, presents findings on efforts, and provides recommendations for strengthening enforcement.

Over the past decade, more than 10 billion dollars has been invested in Pittsburgh tech companies, with more than 3.5 billion invested in 2021 alone. With the context of such strong sectoral growth in mind, RAND researchers set out to characterize the science- and technology-focused (STF) workforce ecosystem in the Pittsburgh region and suggest policy changes and investment opportunities to help propel the region's STF sectors in the future.

The authors evaluate the potential economic benefits of U.S. alliances and a forward military presence, a topic debated by scholars of grand strategy. A new statistical model provides evidence that U.S. alliances increase bilateral trade in manufactured goods, which has a modest but positive effect on overall U.S. economic welfare. Decisions about U.S. military engagement should be based on a range of factors including such economic benefits.