Research Library

Although the media often portrays migration at the U.S.-Mexico border as a “crisis,” experts Kelsey Norman and Ana Martín Gil argue that this depiction lacks nuance and sidesteps possible solutions. This report provides a more realistic view of the situation and offers key policy recommendations.

A pledge to boost regional competitiveness is a welcome outcome of last month's North American Leaders’ Summit. But the region’s policymakers should remember the lessons of the past as they work to do so, writes fellow David A. Gantz.

Baker Institute health policy experts provide links to some of the sources they found helpful in understanding developments in the coronavirus outbreak.

By Paul Lagunes, Baker Institute for Public Policy; Xiaoxuan Yang, Columbia University; and Andrés Castro, Columbia University. Corruption is a persistent problem throughout Latin America. Higher rates of perceived corruption are associated with lower levels of economic welfare and direct foreign investment, write the authors.

Rice faculty scholar Leslie Schwindt-Bayer shares key findings from a recently published book she edited, “Gender and Representation in Latin America," which examines the factors that help increase women’s political presence in Latin American governments.

The people of Costa Rica will face a dilemma when they vote for a new president on April 1, writes Erika de la Garza: In Carlos Alvarado they have a candidate whose party has failed to deliver the change it promised in the last election. His opponent, Fabricio Alvarado appeals to their conservative instincts but seems unconcerned about Costa Rica’s reputation for tolerance, respect for all human rights, and regard for international institutions.

A scandal that involves high-ranking officials from Costa Rica's three branches of government is testing the country's reputation for democratic stability. 

While academic and popular debates tend to focus on differential benefits and costs of trade across countries or industries, this brief highlights winners and losers at the level of individual firms. The authors demonstrate that preferential liberalization produces concentrated benefits among a relatively small number of very large and productive firms.