Research Library

In the wake of the collapse of Terra — a once-prosperous blockchain network that suffered one of the biggest falls in the history of cryptocurrency — the authors discuss recent government efforts to regulate digital assets.

The recent shift toward legalization has not been enough to undo the racism endemic to U.S. cannabis policy. The authors lay out policies to improve equity and erase the racist legacy of prohibition.

This brief explores how the emerging use of blockchain technology in financial services could transform small business lending and improve capital access for businesses excluded by conventional lending processes.

The global financial cost of Covid-19 could top $15 trillion. But governments could prevent future pandemics by investing as little as $22 billion a year in programs to curb wildlife trafficking and stem the destruction of tropical forests, according to an international team of scientists including Baker Institute Faculty Scholar Ted Loch-Temzelides.

Houston and Harris County area law enforcement leaders weigh in on the need for drug policy reforms in the United States.

With the Texas Legislature now considering several bills that would decrease penalties for marijuana possession and legalize the use of medical marijuana to treat a variety of conditions, authors William Martin and Katharine A. Neill present updated findings in this new issue brief that support the case for reforming marijuana policy in Texas.

Drug Policy Program director Bill Martin summarizes the scientific and fiscal evidence supporting the efficacy of syringe exchange programs and outlines a framework for public policies to deal with this aspect of drug use and abuse.

Using charts, figures and graphs of this survey data originally created by former career intelligence analyst Brian C. Bennett and updated by the Drug Policy Program, this issue brief offers an overview of drug use trends in America over the last four decades. The brief is part of a larger online project chronicling the pattern of the use and abuse of individual drugs over (in most cases) more than 40 years.

The rate of adults without health insurance across the U.S. dropped nearly twice as much as in Texas from 2013 to 2015, according to a new report released today by Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and the Episcopal Health Foundation.

A larger percentage of Texas workers are getting health insurance through their employers now than before the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, according to a new report released by Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and the Episcopal Health Foundation.