Research Library

How do urban redevelopment and revitalization projects impact a community’s small businesses? A new report by Alisha Small, scholar for economic growth, and co-author Lebena Varghese details survey results from business owners in Houston’s Third Ward, a historically African American community experiencing economic and demographic change.

Elizabeth M. Mendoza offers nine commonsense actions Congress can take to provide immigration relief and protect U.S. national and economic security.

This report explores the current situation in Palestinian-Israeli dynamics and concludes that the only real solution is a return to the two-state paradigm. Peace and security — for both Israelis and Palestinians — will come through mutual recognition of statehood and clearly defined and respected international borders, the author writes.

The authors review the rating systems used to assign state unemployment insurance (SUI) tax rates to businesses, focusing on the reserve ratio and benefit ratio methods, and examine suggested alternatives.

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.

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.

The director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) plays a central role in advising the president on the impact of science and technology on domestic and global affairs, and on federal funding of scientific research. This paper provides recommendations for the next president to consider when choosing a science advisor and establishing science and technology policy priorities. The project also offers guidance to the next science advisor for developing effective policy while serving in the White House. The recommendations are based on lessons learned from past presidential science advisors as well as feedback from more than 60 reviewers, including individuals who currently serve or have served the OSTP, the President’s Council of Advisors for Science and Technology, federal agencies, Congress or congressional staff, and nongovernmental organizations as well as policy scholars.

In the current absence of direct negotiations, the Obama administration has an opportunity to reshape the Israeli-Palestinian negotiating framework, according to a report by the Conflict Resolution Program at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. The report recommends that the administration continue to demonstrate strong U.S. support for the two-state model, test the willingness of the parties to compromise and adopt a more comprehensive approach to resolving the conflict with the support of the international community.

In March 2009, the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy and the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development co-hosted a workshop in Doha, Qatar, on stem cell research, policies, and regulations. The event highlighted current stem cell science, as well as stem cell policies and ethics. The discussion focused on policies around the globe and the religious views of embryonic stem cell research from the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim perspectives. The workshop was organized so that outcomes from the event could be relevant to the development of Qatar"s up-and-coming stem cell research. Based on the presentation from the event, the advisory panel for the Baker Institute International Stem Cell Policy Program made a series of recommendations for the new stem cell initiative in Qatar, including the suggestion for outreach to the Qatari community.