Jose Ivan Rodriguez-Sanchez, the postdoctoral research fellow in international trade for the Center for the U.S. and Mexico, analyzes the economic impact of COVID-19 travel restrictions on the tourism industry of Texas border counties, many of which depend on Mexicans entering the U.S. and spending billions of dollars each year.
In the December 2020 issue of the Health Policy Research (HPR) newsletter, Drew Helmer, the deputy director of the Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness and Safety, argues that the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs should be more proactive about promoting service-connected disability benefits for potentially eligible veterans.
Over the past decade, anti-vaccine rhetoric and activity have increased in the United States, resulting in decreased vaccination rates and more frequent outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases. In this study, researchers use Texas as a case study to determine if vaccine-related legislation became a partisan issue between 2009 and 2019.
Sarah Lasater, Rekha Lakshmanan, Kirstin R.W. MatthewsNovember 30, 2020
While recent headlines announce that President Biden's proposed budget will drive the national debt past WWII levels, fellow Jorge Barro explained in November 2020 that a projected surge will be very different from the 1940s.
The unemployment insurance (UI) system is facing a perfect storm of problems: the pandemic has led to a surge in jobless claims, which is severely straining state UI trusts that weren't fully prepared for a recession. This report reviews the UI system and potential measures to mitigate challenges current downturn.
David A. Gantz, the Will Clayton Fellow in Trade and International Economics, analyzes a wide range of factors — including the U.S.-China trade war, the entry into force of the United States Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA) and the COVID-19 pandemic — that are all contributing to the pressure on the U.S. to decouple from China and to shift supply chains back to North America.
Public finance fellow Joyce Beebe explores California’s tax voucher program, which, if implemented, would offer Californians the option of paying state taxes ahead of time at a discount, allowing the state to collect money up front to build an economic recovery fund. Baker Institute Blog: https://bit.ly/3f75eGm
With opposition to large-scale energy infrastructure on the rise, transmission service providers find it problematic to build the new power lines essential to a greener grid. This paper highlights the Texas Competitive Renewable Energy Zone initiative (CREZ) — a case study of the difficulties that new power lines face and the policy choices that can facilitate development of this necessary infrastructure. The CREZ experience can inform development of new large-scale transmission infrastructure in other regions.
The authors offer strategies to counter an increasingly aggressive China and to position the Indo-Asia-Pacific for continued prosperity and growth under a rules-based regional system. Their recommendations comprise a dynamic blend of diplomatic, information, military and economic action.
Gabriel Collins, Andrew S. EricksonNovember 12, 2020
Energy fellows Mark Finley and Anna Mikulska explore why U.S. natural gas prices have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, even as gas prices in Europe and Asia have remained relatively low.