Research Library

While many countries are reluctant to accept and integrate refugees, Mexico and Brazil have established effective ways to welcome and absorb refugees through relocation programs. In her new brief, nonresident scholar Elizabeth Ferris outlines how these initiatives promote a win-win scenario by finding solutions that not only enhance refugee protection and well-being but also cater to domestic labor needs.

Yemen’s Houthi have mounted a selective counter-shipping campaign in the Red Sea that has disrupted global trade between Asia and Europe. In a new issue brief, fellow Jim Krane describes how the attacks have triggered major shipping delays and expenses for firms based in countries friendly to Israel — effectively acting as economic sanctions and demonstrating the power of a non-state actor to undermine global norms around freedom of navigation.

Traditional approaches to displacement are not working, writes Baker Institute nonresident fellow and Georgetown University professor Elizabeth Ferris. For both refugees and internally displaced people, a push to promote self-reliance could be part of the solution.

President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has backfired in many ways. For one, it’s leading to a diminished Russian energy export economy and spurring Europe to a clean energy future, writes fellow Jim Krane.

Expert Heidi Russell analyzes the economic impacts of relaxing vaccination requirements for children and finds that as immunization rates decline, the costs of an outbreak increase.

Stephen Mumme, nonresident scholar at the Center for the United States and Mexico, explores the recent Rio Grande water war and its temporary resolution, arguing that the 1944 water treaty has once again proven resilient and adaptable to the challenges confronting both the United States and Mexico as they share their transboundary water resources.

The authors examine the recent attacks on oil infrastructure in Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf nations to shed light on the current state of U.S.-Gulf strategic relations and the potential directions of its evolution in coming years.

In June 2018, Saudi Arabia finally put an end to its legal ban on women driving, opening the way for millions of new drivers to navigate across a country three times bigger than Texas. While the long-overdue policy shift provides relief to women who lacked freedom of mobility, the onset of so many new drivers has enormous consequences for transportation and the energy sector, as well as labor market participation and public health.

This paper examines the progress of energy subsidy reforms in the Persian Gulf, documenting policy changes in all six monarchies and briefly examining the role of energy and the state.

This issue brief describes the current state of brackish groundwater use and development in the United States.