Research Library

A combination of factors is encouraging Saudi Arabia to consider raising crude oil production capacity beyond the current ceiling of 12.5 million barrels per day. However, an increase in Saudi crude oil production would have consequences for markets and competing forms of energy, as well as for the kingdom's geopolitical stature, writes fellow Jim Krane in an article for Energy Policy.

This article, published by JAMA Pediatrics, examines how vaccine hesitancy may impact the number of annual measles cases in the U.S., finding that a 5 percent reduction in MMR vaccinations could cause a three-fold increase in measles cases and lead to a $2.1 million increase in public health costs.

Mexico should consider expanding its 2014 energy reform legislation by further designing policies that seek to promote enhanced generation output and capacity, which could expand economic growth, the authors write in this study: http://bit.ly/2DpaDai

Krane finds that the coal industry is at greater risk of being targeted by climate-related regulation amid decreasing social acceptance of its use, while the oil industry faces reduced risks due to its lack of substitutes.

The authors rely on 40 in-depth interviews with male and female physicists at universities in China to determine why the country has so few women in physics — a discipline of science where there is extensive gender segregation.

Previous studies of tobacco policies aimed at reducing hospitalizations may have overestimated the benefits of bans on public smoking and underestimated the benefits of cigarette taxes, according to new research by the Baker Institute, Baylor College of Medicine, Yale University, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “Public-place smoking bans play a critical role in improving public health, and we are not arguing that smoking bans be lifted in restaurants, bars and workplaces,” said research co-author Vivian Ho, the chair in health economics at the Baker Institute and director of the institute’s Center for Health and Biosciences. “However, policy makers and public health workers must be realistic in understanding the benefits of alternative policy interventions like taxes and bans. We found that raising cigarette taxes can have an immediate beneficial effect in terms of reducing costly hospitalizations. As for smoking bans, while these may eventually lower hospitalizations, our research found no immediate benefit in terms of reduced hospitalizations.”

Current medical research and literature may be overemphasizing the role that hospital volume plays in patient outcomes, according to a study co-authored by health economics fellow Vivian Ho.

China’s national diesel consumption declined in 2014 and 2015, and sustained massive oil demand growth from China can no longer be taken for granted.

Islamist parties throughout the world have routinely disregarded environmental concerns in their discourse and actions. However, Islam as a religion places strong emphasis on environmental protection. Thus, it is puzzling that environmental policy is all but absent from most Islamist platforms, writes Middle East Center research scholar A.Kadir Yildirim.

This paper examines the rise and consolidation of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) by analyzing its success in local elections.