Research Library

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.

While Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump differ on clean energy policy, neither candidate has yet to offer a comprehensive energy plan. In a new commentary featured in The Conversation, Daniel S. Cohan examines how legislation, regulations, and trade policy will guide either administration’s approach to the energy transition.

Mosquito-borne viruses and parasitic illnesses not only are expected to become America’s new normal, especially in the Southern U.S., but also carry a pandemic-level threat. Should this happen, it could exert an enormous public health and socioeconomic toll, especially on the Gulf Coast. In response, the U.S. needs to implement modern biotechnology approaches for disease surveillance and prevention as part of its pandemic strategies, writes fellow Peter J. Hotez.

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.

The U.S. is facing an ongoing labor shortage that is hampering its economic growth and contributing to inflationary pressures. Allowing more foreign-born workers into the U.S. in an orderly and legal manner is an effective way to ease this shortage.

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.

To ensure U.S. technological and economic competitiveness, America’s new administration must work with Congress to enact appropriations for basic research, STEM education, and workforce development at a level consistent with the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act’s authorizations.

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.