Peter Brownell

Associate Social Scientist, RAND Corporation

Peter Brownell is an associate social scientist at RAND. Prior to joining RAND, Brownell was a visiting research fellow at the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies and a guest scholar at the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, both at UC San Diego. His research focuses primarily on immigrants and immigration, with a particular focus on migration between Mexico and the United States. Past projects have addressed the factors related to Mexican immigrants’ wages in the United States and the role of U.S. policy in structuring immigrants’ labor market outcomes and decisions regarding migration and settlement. Other recent and current projects address issues such as the effects of the recent recession on return migration flows to Mexico, the role of selective migration in the “Hispanic paradox” in birth outcomes, racial and ethnic differences in factors related to the intergenerational transmission of cigarette smoking, and comparison across U.S. surveys in estimates of the prevalence of childhood obesity.