Research Library

Corruption is a complex social, political and institutional problem that is difficult to define. This brief describes the challenges involved in defining, understanding and measuring corruption and evaluates the case study of Mexico, where corruption has increased in recent years, to illustrate these complexities.

Women in Egypt achieved a historic increase in their legislative representation in 2015, securing 14.9 percent of seats in parliament. In this brief, Cairo University professor Mazen Hassan analyzes transcripts of parliamentary sessions to determine whether this increase in female parliamentarians had a noticeable impact on Egypt’s legislative agenda.

The Trump administration's family reunification policy is insufficient to address the lasting impacts of the president's zero-tolerance immigration policy, writes Erika de la Garza, program director for the Latin America Initiative, in the Baker Institute Blog: https://bit.ly/2NMQnCU.

In February 2018, the Baker Institute, the American University of Beirut’s Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy, and the Carnegie Corporation of New York held a two-day conference in Beirut to examine critical challenges and effective policy options for fostering more inclusive and pluralistic systems in the MENA. Leading experts discussed issues such as post-conflict reconstruction and the economic, political, and socio-religious dimensions of pluralism and inclusion in the MENA. This report summarizes some of the participants' discussions and proposals.

Patterns of charitable contributions in the U.S. and the impact of recent tax changes to charitable giving are examined. 

Mexico’s Ministry of the Interior estimates there could be 430,000 to 600,000 children and youth who are U.S. citizens but now reside in Mexico. Without the necessary documents, they become a vulnerable population without proper access to schools or social and health services. This brief explores the issues related to this population and calls for more research to be done to understand its impact.

A study comparing the community benefit expenditures of two sets of Houston hospitals leads the authors to propose strategies that can better justify the tax exemptions the institutions enjoy.

Vivian Ho, director of the Center for Health and Biosciences, examines some of the major reasons critics dislike the Affordable Care Act and offers policy recommendations for refining the legislation in the Annual Review of Medicine.

The Commission on Combatting Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis appointed by President Trump released its report on Monday, July 31. Drug policy fellow Katharine Neill Harris assesses the commission's recommendations in the Baker Institute Blog.

In testimony before the U.S. House Budget Committee, public finance fellow John Diamond outlines steps to reduce projected federal expenditures and reform the U.S. tax system to maximize economic growth.