Research Library

Fellow Katharine Neill Harris testified before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee on the failed war on drugs and solutions based on racial justice and harm reduction.

The author draws links between pandemics, the economy, nature and energy, showing that policies reducing the probability of future pandemics are a solid investment.

Effective drug policy requires acceptance that, for better or worse, licit and illicit drug use is part of our world. The authors recommend several steps the federal government can take to facilitate more pragmatic and effective drug policy at all levels of government.

The new administration should immediately abandon the “America Alone” policies of the Trump administration and work with our allies to address China’s rampant IP theft and forced technology transfer, overproduction of steel and aluminum, and unlawful subsidies.

Decades of research demonstrate the critical importance of early childhood development, but the United States ranks last among wealthy countries in child health outcomes. This brief lays out a series of recommendations to improve the developmental potential of American children.

Our current economic situation is not permanent, and laws should not be altered based on the idea that domestic shutdown will last forever. However, we should remain flexible as our economy recovers.

In testimony before the Texas House of Representatives Criminal Jurisprudence Committee, Neill Harris expressed support for limiting arrests for fine-only offenses and expanding cite-and-release eligibility to include nonviolent misdemeanors and low-level drug possession. These changes will save taxpayers money and reduce the racially disparate burdens of incarceration without compromising public safety, she said.

In late July, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar delivered a bleak economic outlook for the state’s economy: the amount of general revenue funds available for the current biennium is expected to be $11.5 billion less than originally estimated. Should the state tap into its rainy day fund to offset the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and facilitate a stable recovery?

Public finance fellow Joyce Beebe reviews the changing definition of employment, specifically looking at the current policy measures for providing benefits and protections to workers in the sharing economy. She also discusses concerns regarding workplace automation.

In this paper, authors examine the concerns raised by a new wealth tax and analyze the economic effects of the tax using a computable general equilibrium model.