Research Library

Reproductive health care, which encompasses preventative screenings, family planning, and contraceptive access, is becoming increasingly inaccessible in Texas due to restrictive abortion policies. A new brief by nonresident fellow McClain Sampson and coauthor Priscilla Kennedy examines how these policies exacerbate health disparities across the state and suggests ways to make comprehensive reproductive care more accessible to Texans.

As foreign interference and the prevalence of disinformation test our democratic processes, election administrators must work across the aisle to demonstrate a shared commitment to healthy election systems at all levels of government. This brief provides a framework for effective bipartisan policies that balance the linchpins required equitable access and integrity of the results.

By extending or enhancing the base-broadening provisions of the 2017 tax act, the new administration could increase U.S. tax revenues — promoting fiscal responsibility — while also contributing to a fair and efficient tax system.

On the episode of the Baker Briefing podcast, former U.S. Deputy Trade Representative C.J. Mahoney and fellow David A. Gantz join Tony Payan to explore the major challenges in North American trade ahead of the 2026 review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

Now is the time to enact corporate income tax reform that moves the U.S. toward a more neutral business tax system. Here’s why expensing and changes in interest deductions plus strengthening provisions designed to reduce income shifting should be part of any reform package.

Nearshoring — the outsourcing of production to another country — would increase manufacturing and further economic development across U.S.-Mexico border areas, but it also raises significant questions about environmental impacts and, ultimately, environmental justice. Both governments should begin drafting and implementing effective transboundary policies that incentivize companies to protect local communities and fragile border ecosystems from a manufacturing surge, writes research scholar Ivonne Cruz.

Low levels of cooperation between the U.S. and Mexico are making it impossible to resolve mutual security concerns, such as drug and human trafficking, cross border gunrunning, and money laundering. Both countries need to transcend their mutual suspicions to find common ground for cooperation to resolve binational security issues with satisfactory solutions, write Tony Payan and Rodrigo Montes de Oca.

Subjective U.S. research security policies are threatening critical partnerships between global scientists, especially between the U.S. and China. New policies based on empirical evidence are needed to protect American science while maintaining the nation’s global economic and technological competitiveness.

As Mexico becomes a desirable site for nearshoring, damaging environmental and social impacts on the border region may be exacerbated under the economic growth. A new report by research scholar Ivonne Cruz dissects the relationship between nearshoring’s ecological and socioeconomic risks and offers trade policy recommendations to support sustainable economic development, mitigate potential hazards, and safeguard local communities.

Conservative Christian activists and officials in several states have proposed or implemented laws and policies that weaken church-state separation and promote Christianity in public schools. Education policy must protect church-state separation and address the need for students to access accurate and balanced information about the many religions they will encounter in an increasingly diverse society, writes nonresident scholar David R. Brockman.