Richard Sousa

Research Fellow
Biography: 

Richard Sousa is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and a member of the Hoover IP2 steering committee. He was the Institution’s senior associate director until 2014; simultaneously, he was director of the Hoover Institution Library and Archives from 2007 to 2012.

Sousa, an economist, specializes in K–12 education, labor economics, discrimination issues, and intellectual property. He coauthored School Figures: The Data behind the Debate (Hoover Institution Press, 2003). Using facts and figures, this volume provides a concise and understandable analysis of the state of K–12 education in the United States.

He is coeditor of What Lies Ahead for America’s Children and Their Schools (Education Next Books, 2014), a volume that examines the current state of America’s K–12 education landscape and offers suggestions for improvement. He is also coeditor of Reacting to the Spending Spree: Policy Changes We Can Afford (Hoover Institution Press, 2009), an early assessment of what the Obama administration faced and how it was reacting to the economic crisis of 2008–09.

His op-eds and articles have appeared in newspapers and periodicals throughout the country including the San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, Dallas Morning News, and Forbes.

As director of the Hoover Institution Library and Archives, Sousa was intimately involved in securing major acquisitions, including the Chiang Kai-shek diaries; the William Rehnquist papers; the Georgian, Estonian, and Lithuanian KGB files; and the Ba’th Party Papers of the Iraq Memory Foundation. He initiated major facilities upgrades to the archives preservation and conservation labs, the library processing room, and the archives reading room.

Sousa was director of the Institution’s Diplomat Training Program, which ran from 1990 through 1995. He was also responsible for launching the Institution’s major communications initiatives: the Institution’s web site, Hoover DigestEducation Next, Policy Review, Hoover Weekly Essays, Facts on Policy series, and Uncommon Knowledge.

Before coming to Hoover in 1990, Sousa was an economist at the RAND Corporation, Welch Consulting, and Unicon Research Corporation; he has taught economics and statistics at UCLA and has testified in class action legal cases. Sousa was a senior consultant to the Soong Family Archives and Research Center at Fudan University, Shanghai, China. Sousa holds degrees in economics from Boston College and UCLA.

His research papers are available in the Hoover Institution Archives.

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Recent Commentary

Blank Section (Placeholder)Analysis and Commentary

The Trump Saga

by Marla Goodman, Richard Sousavia Defining Ideas
Friday, September 25, 2015

He may be tactless, but voters love that he’s a political outsider who wants to “make America great again.”  

Social Security
Analysis and Commentary

Attacks On The Patent System Are Going To Make Older Americans Worse Off

by Richard Sousamentioning Stephen Habervia Forbes
Monday, August 3, 2015

When the first monthly Social Security checks were mailed in 1940, male and female life expectancy was 61 and 65, respectively; life expectancy of men and women is now 76 and 81.

Analysis and Commentary

Vergara decision offers opportunity for teachers

by Richard Sousavia San Jose Mercury News
Thursday, September 4, 2014

This month, more than 6 million students will have returned to California's public schools, as have their 300,000 teachers, the vast majority with academic tenure. All returned under the shadows of Rolf Treu and Beatriz Vergara.

Analysis and Commentary

What Lies Ahead For Digital Education

by Richard Sousavia Forbes.com
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
World Puzzle
Analysis and Commentary

One of These Embargoes is Not Like the Others

by Richard Sousa, Marla Goodmanvia Daily Caller (DC)
Friday, August 23, 2013

Let’s play a game. Here are five countries, see if you can tell what they have in common, and more importantly, how they differ: 1. Iran 2. North Korea 3. Syria 4. Sudan 5. Cuba The answer

Blue Globe showing US
Blank Section (Placeholder)Analysis and Commentary

Military Self-Interest in Accountability for Core International Crimes

by Richard Sousa, Morten Bergsmo, Arne Willy Dahlvia Analysis
Monday, July 22, 2013

Accountability for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide has received increased international attention since the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in 1993 (‘ICTY’). Internationalized criminal tribunals were subsequently established for Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Cambodia, Iraq and Lebanon, and we have seen high profile war crimes cases against former leaders such as Slobodan Milošević, Saddam Hussein and Charles Taylor. Although there have been some controversies and setbacks, the overall trend since the mid-1990s has been one of increased support for accountability for flagrant violations of international criminal law.

American Flags
Blank Section (Placeholder)Analysis and Commentary

The Greatest Generation

by Richard Sousavia Advancing a Free Society
Tuesday, November 9, 2010

With all due respect to Tom Brokaw, he didn’t get it quite right about the “Greatest Generation.” In his book The Greatest Generation, Brokaw extols the virtues and influence of well-known Americans in the defense, development, and recovery of the United States in the

Go East

by Richard Sousavia Hoover Digest
Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Hoover focuses on building broad, deep East Asia collections. By Richard Sousa.

Menachem Begin pictured in his secret-police mug shot

Agents of History

by Maciej Siekierski, Richard Sousavia Hoover Digest
Thursday, January 14, 2010

Secret police keep wonderful records. Researchers who study Lithuania can thank the KGB—and some hardworking archivists—for a priceless historical collection. By Maciej Siekierski and Richard Sousa.

Back to the Future on Markets

by Terry Anderson, Richard Sousavia Hoover Digest
Friday, October 9, 2009

There are actually some policy changes that will work and won’t cost a fortune. By Terry L. Anderson and Richard Sousa.

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