Baker Briefing

The 89th Texas legislative session began on Jan. 14 with Rep. Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock) elected House speaker following a month-long battle among state Republicans. Why was the election so contentious, and how might Burrows’ speakership shape the rest of the session? Political science fellow Mark P. Jones joined Ed Emmett, a Baker Institute colleague and four-term former Texas House member, to di...

Joe Biden entered office with plans to prioritize American workers in foreign policy and strengthen U.S. alliances against the threats posed by China and Russia. His administration would ultimately face significant crises abroad, from Ukraine to Gaza, that tested his vision for American diplomacy and brought new challenges and opportunities to the fore. On Dec. 17, 2024, Kurt Campbell , the deputy...

Since Texas prohibited most abortions in 2022 following the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, numerous media reports have illustrated the dire impacts of reproductive health care restrictions on Texan patients, including people with nonviable and life-threatening pregnancies.   On Oct. 10, 2024, the Baker Institute hosted three health care professionals and the executive edito...

How will critical issues for the U.S.-Mexico relationship, including immigration, trade, and drug trafficking, evolve during Donald Trump’s second term? Four days before Trump nominated Christoper Landau, former U.S. ambassador to Mexico, to be deputy secretary of state, Landau joined Center for the U.S. and Mexico Tony Payan to discuss what may lie ahead. For more about the future of U.S.-Mexico...

The U.S. has supported Ukraine with over $61 billion worth of military assistance since Russia’s invasion in 2022, including a surge of aid from the Joe Biden administration in his final weeks in office. With Donald Trump set to return for a second term, how might his administration change the approach to Ukraine — and to Russia more broadly? Glenn Corn, a former senior executive and intelligence...

Originally designed to spur investment in the city’s most underserved areas, Houston’s tax increment reinvestment zones (TIRZs) have been a major part of its growth strategy since the 1990s. But they may actually be disproportionately benefiting affluent communities — and shifting the burden of municipal expenses to lower-income neighborhoods.  Center for Public Finance fellows  John Diamond and ...

With the development of the COVID-19 vaccine in late 2020, anti-vaccine rhetoric in the U.S. expanded dramatically. Vaccines have been routinely recommended in the U.S. since the early 20th century, and they have significantly reduced the prevalence of diseases like polio, measles, and tetanus. But with the pandemic, what was once a mostly politically neutral topic — immunization — became a politi...

Armed conflicts in Gaza, Sudan, and Syria have made millions reliant on humanitarian assistance. However, the provision of critical food, water, health care, and other resource assistance has been complicated by the politicization of aid, highlighted by the recent decision by the Israeli parliament to ban UNRWA, the primary aid organization for Palestinians. Women’s Rights, Human Rights, and Refug...

Clean electricity technologies are here and they’re affordable. So why does most of our power in the U.S. still come from fossil fuels? Daniel Cohan , a civil and environmental engineering professor at Rice University and a Baker Institute Rice faculty scholar, joined Baker Briefing to explain how bureaucratic bottlenecks have led to a backlog of wind, solar, and battery storage power projects tha...

What role should religion — and Christianity in particular — play in public life? This question is at the center of legislative battles brewing in statehouses across the country. It stems largely from the growing influence of Christian nationalism, an ideology based around the idea that the United States is a Christian nation and that its government should follow conservative Christian religious p...

Despite spending more on health care by percentage of GDP than its peer high-income countries, the U.S. hasn’t seen the abundance of services or improved outcomes for patients that one might expect. Instead, as medical costs increase, U.S. health outcomes continue to lag behind those of other developed nations. Texas, which spends nearly $50 billion on health care annually, performs poorly relativ...

On July 1, 2026, the U.S., Mexico, and Canada will decide whether or not to continue the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which entered into force in 2020. How can policymakers prepare for the negotiations and continue to work toward a strategic, mutually beneficial North American partnership?   This episode of Baker Briefing was originally published by the México Centered podcast. F...

Late last month, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico announced a “pause” in relations with the U.S. embassy. These latest tensions between the two countries came after U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar criticized López Obrador’s proposed judicial reforms, which include electing judges by popular vote. Salazar called this measure “ a major risk to the functioning of Mexico’s democra...

How might the future of energy unfold?  Ken Medlock joined the Baker Briefing podcast to discuss the latest insights from our  Center for Energy Studies experts on energy markets, geopolitics, sustainability, technology, and more A glimpse into their research is compiled in “ Energy Insights 2024 ,” a collection of articles designed to illuminate paths forward for policymakers and industry leaders...

The right to believe what you want is baked into the fabric of American society. But throughout U.S. history, there has been considerable disagreement over how much influence those beliefs should have in law and government — particularly the Christian ideals many believe the nation was founded on.   Michael O. Emerson joined the podcast to explore not only the role of faith in U.S. politics, but t...

In late July, Venezuela’s electoral authority declared President Nicolás Maduro had won reelection — a result the opposition says was blatantly manipulated. The results were also denounced by the U.S., the E.U., and a number of Latin American countries. On this episode of Baker Briefing, Francisco Monaldi discusses what the post-election chaos means for the country’s troubled oil sector and U.S. p...

In early July, Hurricane Beryl made landfall near Houston as a Category 1 storm. The city’s flooding infrastructure held up, but thousands were without power for over a week in the brutal summer heat.   On this episode of the Baker Briefing podcast, Jim Blackburn , a faculty scholar at the Baker Institute and co-director of Rice’s SSPEED Center , joined fellow Ed Emmett to discuss the impacts of B...

Masoud Pezeshkian’s victory in Iran’s presidential election on July 5 was, in many ways, surprising: The parliamentarian is a relative moderate who has pledged to engage with the West and criticized the harassment of women by Iran’s morality police. But will his reformist views translate to meaningful change? Mohammad Ayatollahi Tabaar and Kristian Coates Ulrichsen joined the podcast to talk about...

A slowing inflation rate, low unemployment, and record stock market highs all point to a robust economy. But are consumers really better off than they were four years ago? On this episode of the Baker Briefing podcast, Center for Public Finance director John Diamond explains why many aren’t feeling the benefits of an economy that’s strong on paper.   This conversation was recorded on June 27, 2024...

The U.S. federal government ran a deficit of $1.7 trillion in 2023. This year, net interest payments on the debt alone amount to over $800 billion — more than the country’s entire defense budget.   John Diamond , director of the Baker Institute Center for Public Finance , explains what’s driving the rising debt level, why it’s unsustainable, and why there’s no end in sight without comprehensive fi...

On June 2, Claudia Sheinbaum was elected to Mexico’s highest office. A climate scientist and former mayor of Mexico City, Sheinbaum will now become the first woman president in the country’s history.  Her victory is part of a resounding win for the ruling Morena party and its allies, which gained a congressional majority in the elections. Now, the Mexican left may be able to reshape the country’s...

Experts examine the evolving global liquefied natural gas (LNG) market, including the implications of the recent U.S. halt in the review of LNG export applications, how conflicts in Europe and the Middle East have disrupted the market, and the challenges that a “re-Balkanization” of the natural gas industry would pose in the face of global shocks. For more insights, read a related article from the...

In December 2023, China released a set of proposed regulations on its video gaming industry. The regulations would have targeted many of the most common monetization features in video games — like daily log-in rewards, bonuses for first-time users of in-game currencies, and “loot boxes,” a kind of randomized prize draw that some liken to legalized gambling. But then something happened: The release...

On May 19, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi died suddenly in a helicopter accident. Experts share what policy direction they expect Iran to take in the aftermath of Raisi’s death and what reactions they anticipate from the Gulf. Discussants Mohammad Ayatollahi Tabaar Fellow for the Middle East, Baker Institute Kristian Coates Ulrichsen Fellow for the Middle East and Co-Director, Middle East Energy...

In this episode of Baker Briefing, experts explore the future of fuels for passenger and freight mobility. The episode is part of an initiative by the Center for Energy Studies investigating the supply chain and cost implications of transitioning fuels across the transportation sector — the economy’s circulatory system. A transcript of the episode is available here . This text was AI-generated and...