Research Library

This policy report examines the push and pull factors that contribute to the formation of so-called “migrant caravans” and offers policy recommendations to staunch the flow of migrants through Mexico.

In the next year, the EPA could make a final decision on whether to classify PVC as hazardous waste. What would this entail? Fellow Rachel Meidl explores why a hazardous designation for PVC would have costly implications — moving the U.S. further from its goal of achieving a sustainable, circular economy.

Gas stoves are a leading source of hazardous indoor air pollution, but they emit only a tiny share of the greenhouse gases that warm the climate. Why, then, have they assumed such a heated role in climate politics?

Truth-in-taxation measures, which are intended to serve taxpayers, have failed to constrain the property tax burden in Texas, write Jennifer Rabb and Lebena Varghese of the McNair Center for Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth. They argue that it is incumbent upon the government to make tax rate notices clear, relevant and above all truthful.

Texas has long been an economic leader, but the state lags critically in a major area: health. A new report by M.D. candidate Kushal T. Kadakia and nonresident scholar Anaeze C. Offodile II offers a road map for improving Texas’ health rankings by 10 spots in 10 years.

Anti-vaccine advocates have been deploying a new tactic: pushing for unvaccinated individuals to become a protected group under constitutional and statutory law. Expert Valerie Gutmann Koch explores why this could threaten public health.

Vaccination policies are a cornerstone of public health, but anti-vaccine activists have been adamantly pushing for legislation that would weaken and dismantle the public health infrastructure, the authors write. In this issue brief, they examine vaccine policy challenges leading up to and during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the future of vaccine legislation in Texas and the United States.

This report finds that America's largest companies could be increasing their profits by identifying opportunities to reign in the costs of health insurance coverage — while still maintaining or improving the quality of benefits for their employees.

There have been promising developments in recent years in the fight to reduce overdose deaths. But barriers to drug checking and other overdose prevention tools remain throughout the country, writes fellow Katharine Neill Harris.