Research Library

This report is the culmination of a 16-month-long survey of residents in Houston's Third Ward. The data aims to inform strategies and investments that support resident access to health care, transportation and other quality-of-life concerns while maintaining the community's character and affordability. The authors thank the Houston Endowment for its generous support.

This report, produced in collaboration with the University of Houston's Hobby School of Public Affairs, analyzes findings of a survey on Houstonians’ views on the candidates in the Houston mayoral race: http://bit.ly/2PavYL9.

Recent developments in the oil kingdoms of the Middle East demonstrate that rentier governments are engaging their citizens with energy policymaking in ways that do not follow rentier state theory, writes fellow Jim Krane.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has pledged to end corrupt practices in Mexico. Yet some of his other goals — such as returning to a more centralized government — might actually foster corruption. Postdoctoral fellow Jose Ivan Rodriguez-Sanchez explores this situation and analyzes the relationship between democracy and corruption in Mexico.

Indigenous natural resource wealth can provide a basis for robust economic development and broad macroeconomic development, especially when there is appropriate governance and robust legal and regulatory institutions. But a lack of institutional fortitude in many regions around the world has contributed to failure to translate resource wealth into broader macroeconomic wealth.

This analysis explores the consequences of West Bank annexation for Israel’s international standing, internal cohesion and socio-economic fabric, and security within a larger framework of regional stability.

By Luis Alfredo Arriola Vega The election of Mexico's Andrés Manuel López Obrador and the increase in Central American migrant caravans require reevaluating immigration policy, writes the author.

At a July 22, 2019, field hearing of the House Subcommittee on the Environment, Rice faculty scholar Jim Blackburn testified on ways to strengthen the Houston-Galveston area's resilience to hurricanes. Read his written testimony (PDF) or watch video of the hearing below. Blackburn's testimony begins at the 38:10 mark.

Key industry practices followed by international oil and gas companies, if adequately implemented by Pemex, may complement Mexico's energy plan to help recognize areas of opportunity for Pemex, the authors write.

Hurricane surge flooding is often overlooked in Houston, yet it poses a significant threat to the region in the form of property damage and a potentially massive loss of life. Rice faculty scholar Jim Blackburn outlines this problem and possible solutions to mitigate surge flooding.