Research Library

Climate change, conflict, and displacement in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region present overlapping challenges to policymakers. This new joint report from the Edward P. Djerejian Center for the Middle East and United States Institute of Peace examines four key components — natural resources, urban fragility, gendered impacts, and international financing — and makes specific recommendations to address these complex issues.

How can lawmakers fix America’s crumbling child care system? Fellow Joyce Beebe reviews four popular policy proposals to expand child care and examines their potential benefits and pitfalls.

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

This report examines how and why corporations buy back shares and whether an excise tax on share buybacks is efficient.

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.

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 unemployment insurance (UI) system is facing a perfect storm of problems: the pandemic has led to a surge in jobless claims, which is severely straining state UI trusts that weren't fully prepared for a recession. This report reviews the UI system and potential measures to mitigate challenges current downturn.

Soda taxes have been proposed to help curb consumption and improve health outcomes. Fellow Joyce Beebe reviews recent attempts at taxing these beverages and provides practical policy solutions.

Digital products are becoming increasingly widespread in the U.S., which is prompting state authorities to assess the taxability of these products. In this report, fellow Joyce Beebe reviews the current landscape and possible future developments in the taxation of digital products.

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.