Experts in the News

The decision to bring troops home from Afghanistan was difficult, but “sometimes in foreign policy ... there are no good solutions,” said fellow Joe Barnes. Barnes, a former U.S. diplomat, is the Baker Institute’s Bonner Means Baker Fellow.

A mix of circumstance and policy change, said fellow Tony Payan. Since 2014, irregular immigration at the southwest border has been dominated by families and children fleeing Central America to escape poverty, gang violence, poor governance, and natural disasters. The same factors are at work today – including two hurricanes that buffeted Guatemala and Honduras late last year and are likely causing increased emigration from the two countries. Add to those factors the rebounding American economy, and the U.S. can appear like a particular land of promise for those in Central America continuing to shoulder the economic burden of COVID-19, said Payan.

"The oil industry is still under immense pressure," but warnings of shale's demise are overstated, said energy fellow Mark Finley. “All of the other factors matter, but not as much as what the price does. The key will be can the industry keep its cost under control as it gets back to work.”

In states that have legalized marijuana, increases or decreases in use among youth have been very small, said drug policy fellow Katharine Neill Harris. Meanwhile, use among adults is increasing nationwide, including in states that have legalized, she added.

Although African-American and Latino communities have been hit hardest by COVID-19 in Texas, they are being vaccinated at a much slower pace — in part because of the decision to administer doses through hospital systems, said health economics fellow Vivian Ho. "If you’re insured, which means you’re more likely to be white, then it was easy for them to sign you up. But once you’re done with that, you have got to pivot."