Experts in the News

The logistics of transport systems mean the U.S. will continue to import oil even when the country produces more than it consumes, said fellow Mark Finley. "The oil and refineries aren't always where the demand is, and it's hard to move supplies thousands of miles across the continent."

“I think the exceptionalism that has been carved out around cannabis has been extended to psychedelics," said drug policy fellow Katharine Neill Harris. But, she noted, “access will come first to people with money." As a result, “decriminalization is still very, very critical. Whether or not people should be using them for their health is a separate question from whether or not they should get in legal trouble for it.”

"Texas still burns more coal and emits more sulfur dioxide and other pollution than any other state," said Baker Institute Rice Faculty Scholar Dan Cohan. "Even though a transition is inevitable, it’s urgent that we move off coal as quickly as possible to improve air quality and health.”

By not going after Russia's core exports, NATO allies are leaving Putin with the ability to finance the war in Ukraine even as Russia's economy is squeezed by sanctions, said energy fellow Anna Mikulska. “Russian oil continues finding its way to the markets in Europe,” she said. “ The worry is that already high energy prices in Europe would go even higher if there was a complete embargo on Russian oil and gas, and lead to a major economic downturn.”

“Broadly speaking, there doesn’t seem to be a systemic difference in price for most consumer products,” said public finance fellow Jorge Barro. However, he explained that “there could be some, for example, inactive ingredients that make a product higher quality as it’s targeted to one gender over the other.”