Experts in the News

USA Today cited a Baker Institute study on the possible effects of increasing the corporate tax rate to 28%, co-authored by public finance fellow John Diamond and Rice economics chair George Zodrow. Diamond is the Baker Institute's Edward A. and Hermena Hancock Kelly Fellow in Public Finance and director of its Center for Public Finance.  Zodrow is Rice's Allyn R. and Gladys M. Cline Chair of Economics and a Baker Institute Rice Faculty Scholar.

"Perceptions matter," said Middle East fellow Kristian Coates Ulrichsen of the U.S. decision to pull missile defenses from Saudi Arabia. "From the Saudi point of view, they now see Obama, Trump and Biden — three successive presidents — taking decisions that signify to some extent an abandonment."

Texas’ new voting restrictions are now law, and the fight has moved to the federal courts. Political science fellow Mark Jones explored how the cases could pan out on the Texas Standard.

"Whatever diplomacy is intended will involve Qatar in some way as a facilitator and mediator to keep dialogue open with the political leadership as the world waits to see what type of regime emerges in Kabul,” said Middle East fellow Kristian Coates Ulrichsen.

The war in Afghanistan may be over, but what of the Afghans who fled the country as the U.S. withdrew its forces? In a podcast for the World Affairs Council, Kelsey Norman, Middle East fellow and director of the Women’s Rights, Human Rights and Refugees Program, described the U.S. refugee response and recommends ways forward.