Research Library

Vaccines are one of the most successful and significant public health measures in the 20th century. However, since the COVID-19 pandemic, they have become more politicized. A new Science and Technology Program report analyzes the vaccine-voting records of state legislators with health backgrounds, finding that party affiliation is a significant predictor of voting behavior.

Houston’s tax increment reinvestment zones (TIRZs) were legislated to help finance the economic and infrastructural development for the city‘s most underfunded areas; however, TIRZs can have had the opposite effect. A new issue brief by experts from the Center for Public Finance examines the regressive impact of TIRZs through geographic and census data, finding that TIRZs primarily benefit wealthier neighborhoods and higher-income Houstonians.

Texas can counter rising health care costs and declining health outcomes by investing more of its annual $46 billion health care budget on non-medical services that address the social, economic, and environmental conditions affecting Texans’ health. Read about it in this new policy brief.

Recently proposed federal legislation would require the Texas electrical grid to connect to the Eastern and Western Interconnections. While connecting the Texas grid may offer more power to the state and beyond, it would not eliminate the state’s energy reliability, connectivity, or outage concerns. Thus, policymakers should shift their focus to funding a thorough, practical study of all the issues involved in Texas grid integration, writes nonresident scholar Julie A. Cohn.

Matt Drwenski discusses the history of freeway planning in Houston, Texas — from its origins in the early 20th century to the completion of the city’s urban highway system.

On this episode of Baker Briefing, Michael Emerson and David Brockman joined Baker Institute Director David Satterfield to explore the evolution of the Christian nationalist movement, its support among the U.S. electorate, and its implications for public policy in Texas and across the country.

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.

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.

If Texas policymakers who support school choice programs aim to pass and build a responsible and effective plan next year, they must consider the lessons and oversights already learned in other states’ implementation of similar programs, such as cautions concerning cost overruns, account spending, traditional public education support, and student achievement, writes Christopher F. Kulesza.

The U.S. needs streamlined approval processes and investments in transmission infrastructure to eliminate the backlog of pending clean electricity projects, satisfy the growing demand for electricity, and meet federal and state climate goals, writes faculty scholar Daniel S. Cohan.