This report examines the societal and economic benefits of investing in children’s early brain development. It also assesses public child care, preschool, home-visiting and parenting education programs in Texas and makes recommendations for possible reforms.
This paper seeks to identify the key factors that explain why local officials in Mexico — mayors, former mayors, mayors-elect and mayoral candidates — are being killed and to provide policy alternatives to address this important threat to Mexican democracy.
David Pérez Esparza, Helden De Paz ManceraJune 4, 2018
Nobody can ensure that the economic gamble underlying the 2013–2014 energy reform will achieve the desired or expected success. However, the author presents evidence demonstrating that Mexico has gradually been building the institutions that will be able to perform governmental operations with reasonable effectiveness.
In early 2017, Mayor Sylvester Turner appointed Baker Institute fellow Quianta Moore to his newly created Task Force on Equity, which was charged with developing actionable policy recommendations to make Houston a more equitable place to live.
Confusion over the Texas' voter I.D. law may have kept some people from casting a ballot in the 2016 elections, even though most could have complied, according to a study led by political science fellow Mark Jones. Latino voters were affected most significantly.
Mark P. Jones, Renee Cross, Jim GranatoApril 10, 2017
The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the Texas voter ID law, ruling that it violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The decision cites a 2015 study by Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and the University of Houston Hobby Center for Public Policy.
Mark P. Jones, Jim Granato, Renee CrossJuly 20, 2016
This paper reviews the literature on asthma management programs for children and discusses the implications and recommendations for asthma management programs, future research and policy development.
Though health education cost-effectively reduces the incidence, morbidity and mortality of chronic conditions such as obesity, currently there is no consistent, systematic method by which Americans are educated about their health. This paper discusses proven approaches to positively change poor behaviors such as overeating and a sedentary lifestyle — key factors that lead to obesity. Health problems related to obesity are thereby reduced, cutting health care costs.
