Research Library

Electricity demand in Texas is evolving, posing major challenges for grid reliability. Center for Energy Studies experts lay out ways ERCOT, Texas’ grid operator, can enhance reliability and resource adequacy.

Legalizing recreational marijuana was intended to remedy the racially disparate effects of cannabis prohibition. But new research from our experts finds persistent racial disparities in the legal system’s practice of mandating treatment for cannabis use.

Baker Institute Rice faculty scholar Luz M. Garcini and co-authors analyze existing research on the compounded stressors and health risks faced by undocumented Latino older adults in the United States. Using a Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) lens, they examine the environments, conditions, and social structures that influence health risks, and provide policy and advocacy recommendations to address the issues.

In this report, the authors outline the U.S. federal budget process for scientific R&D, discuss trends in federal R&D funding and provide an outlook for federal scientific R&D funding during the Biden administration.

The authors examine recent trends in vaping, research on its effectiveness for smoking cessation, the role of industry marketing and policy responses to increased use.

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.

In recent years public opinion surveys have found that a consistent and increasing percentage of Texans support marijuana reform, but this support has not translated into policy change. The authors explain why it should.

By providing regulated and safe access to medical cannabis to people with demonstrated need, the Texas Legislature can provide justified relief, help reduce the opioid epidemic, and save Texas millions of dollars, write the authors.

A Dec. 2018 workshop on money laundering in Mexico, held at Tecnológico de Monterrey and co-sponsored by the Baker Institute Mexico Center, resulted in the executive report below. It is written in Spanish. 

At a time when ideas to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can be highly speculative, this report attempts to objectively analyze and present the two major options for a negotiated peace and to explain the consequences for both of the parties involved and the international community.