The number of anti-vaccine bills filed in Texas has risen, yet many Texans support vaccine policy. Fellow Kirstin R.W. Matthews and nonresident scholar Rekha Lakshmanan examine the stakes of legislative engagement in public health initiatives and provide a call to action for Texans to embrace public health as an act of freedom.
The Office of the United States Trade Representative recently stepped back from ongoing negotiations on digital trade at the World Trade Organization, citing unsettled domestic policy, and suspended support for digital trade rules in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework too. But if the U.S. wants to be a part of the conversation, it should reengage and help craft rules flexible enough to meet its future domestic policy needs, writes nonresident fellow Simon Lester.
Despite recent claims that “free trade is dead,” fellow Simon Lester explains that America was never close to anything resembling free trade in the first place. Instead, current U.S. trade policy, just like past policy, reflects a messy mix of free market and industrial policy views.
With the recent enactment of the CHIPS and Science Act, the conversation about industrial policy has started up again. Are state-directed economic policies back, and will such initiatives work?
To better reflect the iterative collaboration necessary for scientific progress, the Nobel Prize must expand its recognition to the many contributors of winning discoveries as well as diversify the selection committee, thereby also expanding recognition of the work of underrepresented minorities, argues this Baker Institute Blog post.
Kirstin R.W. Matthews, Kenneth M. Evans, Flora Naylor, Daniel MoralíOctober 13, 2021
This year's Nobel Prize in Physics broadens the traditionally defined scope of the discipline, writes Kenneth Evans, demonstrating how discoveries in physics play a crucial role in addressing global issues like climate change.
"This is a moment to prioritise health over short-term political calculations," write fellow Peter Hotez, Rekha Lakshmanan and nine other experts in a Lancet commentary. Click here for their call for action against anti-vaccine rhetoric and COVID-19 misinformation, and five short-term recommendations.
Rekha Lakshmanan, Peter J. HotezSeptember 17, 2021
Ten months after the pandemic began, partisan division is severely inhibiting the United States’ COVID-19 response. The health consequences of the continued political divide could not be clearer, as the pandemic has grown beyond many experts’ worst predictions.
Quianta Moore, Christopher F. KuleszaJanuary 12, 2021
Political partisanship is strongly influencing the United States’ response to Covid-19, potentially leading to a suboptimal balance between reopening the economy and protecting public health. Read more at the Baker Institute Blog.