Research Library

Fellow Kelsey Norman examines the U.S. refugee resettlement system, which the Trump administration is steadily dismantling.

Recent developments in the oil kingdoms of the Middle East demonstrate that rentier governments are engaging their citizens with energy policymaking in ways that do not follow rentier state theory, writes fellow Jim Krane.

Indigenous natural resource wealth can provide a basis for robust economic development and broad macroeconomic development, especially when there is appropriate governance and robust legal and regulatory institutions. But a lack of institutional fortitude in many regions around the world has contributed to failure to translate resource wealth into broader macroeconomic wealth.

This report analyzes political and religious authority in Saudi Arabia under the regime of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

This author examines the main characteristics of Mexican immigrant-owned small and medium-sized businesses established in the United States, and the opportunities and challenges they face.

A newly released study from the Project on Middle East Political Science at George Washington University includes a contribution from fellow Jim Krane on subsidy reform and tax increases in the Middle East.

On Sept. 13, 2018, Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and George Washington University’s Project on Middle East Political Science (POMEPS) co-hosted the conference “Building Inclusive and Pluralistic States Post-Arab Spring.” The conference was the culmination of a two-year project funded by the Carnegie Corporation and showcased research by leading scholars of the Middle East on political, economic and socio-religious inclusion in Arab states since 2011. This report addresses some of the conference’s key conclusions and policy recommendations for U.S. policymakers concerned with the future stability of the Middle East.

In separate papers, two Baker Institute fellows — one Palestinian, the other Israeli — provide their perspectives on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

This report reviews different types of income sources for kids and young adults and the associated tax implications. It also discusses the revised kiddie tax rules — a mechanism intended to discourage parents from transferring assets to their children to lower their own tax liabilities — after the 2017 tax act.

Why do unaccompanied minors flee their home countries and what happens when they reach Mexico or the United States?  This report provides an overview of the perilous journey and the reality of detention centers, concluding that a child-centric approach in both countries should address the needs of these children.