Research Library

This brief outlines how the Small Business Administration's long-standing 7(a) loan program can build upon the lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic to strengthen its operations and impact.

Vaccination policies are a cornerstone of public health, but anti-vaccine activists have been adamantly pushing for legislation that would weaken and dismantle the public health infrastructure, the authors write. In this issue brief, they examine vaccine policy challenges leading up to and during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the future of vaccine legislation in Texas and the United States.

The authors identify key themes that emerged from anti-vaccine testimonies during the 2021 Texas legislative session and consider the implications of these discussions as the next legislative session draws near.

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.

When illegal workers use false documents to get a job in the U.S., their employers may complete the paperwork by deducting Social Security, federal, state and Medicare taxes from each paycheck. As of 2010, illegal workers have contributed $12 billion to the Social Security system alone. Such workers face poverty in old age, as they are barred from collecting retirement benefits because of their immigration status, and they have not accrued a pension in their home country.

By Kirstin R.W. Matthews and Melody T. Tan Vaccines and vaccine exemptions are increasingly contentious issues in Texas. In this issue brief, the authors dispel five common misconceptions about vaccines that were presented during public hearings at the Texas House of Representatives in 2017.

In this brief, the authors analyze transcripts from public hearrings at the Texas legislature to identify key arguments against school-mandated vaccinations. To ensure public health, policymakers and other stakeholders should be well informed about vaccines, the impact of vaccine-preventable disease, and the risks associated with putting absolute individual rights above public health concerns, they conclude.

By Alanoud Al Sharekh, Ph.D., University of London Kuwait’s economy has been stagnant over the past decade due to political instability, fluctuating oil prices, and endemic corruption. To combat this situation, Kuwait has attempted to develop a robust business sector through fundamental policy shifts away from monopolies and toward the creation of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Alanoud Al Sharekh explores Kuwaiti SME development in an issue brief and a longer research paper, which are part of a series on pluralism and inclusion in the Middle East after the Arab Spring. The project is generously supported by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

This policy brief analyzes the impact of the increasing number of parents who opt their children out of school-entry vaccinations for nonmedical reasons in Texas and argues that the state should make obtaining nonmedical exemptions more rigorous in order to reduce the public health risks and costs associated with vaccine-preventable diseases.

A deadly virus named MERS has spread from Saudi Arabia to over a dozen countries since 2012. While the chances for widespread infection are remote due to the virus's low human-to-human transmission rate, all governments should nevertheless support academic freedom and scientific collaboration to keep local outbreaks of viruses like MERS from becoming serious pandemics.