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    U.S. Scientific Research and Development 202: A Critical Look at the Federal Research and Development Funding System
    (Center for American Progress, 2011-07-21) Matthews, Kirstin R.W.; Evans, Kenneth M.; Lane, Neal F.
    As a new Congress begins to deal with the federal budget, it is useful to review the budget setting process in the United States as it applies to research and development (R&D). The federal R&D budget process is a complex, often confusing, procedure characterized by a series of lengthy and frequently contentious negotiations between Congress, the Executive Office of the President, and numerous cabinet-level departments and federal agencies, all attempting to respond to an abundance of expectations and conflicting demands. Here we focus on the parts of the federal budget that deal with science and technology R&D funding in particular.
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    Human Schistosomiasis Vaccines as Next Generation Control Tools
    (MDPI, 2023) Hotez, Peter J.; Bottazzi, Maria Elena; James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy
    Human schistosomiasis remains one of the most important yet neglected tropical diseases, with the latest estimates from the Global Burden of Disease Study indicating that over 140 million people are infected with schistosomes [...]
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    Editorial: Precision psychiatry from a pharmacogenetics perspective
    (Frontiers Media S.A., 2023) Brown, Lisa C.; Allen, Josiah D.; Eyre, Harris A.; Baune, Bernhard T.; Aitchison, Katherine J.; Bousman, Chad A.; James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy
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    Global Vaccinations: New Urgency to Surmount a Triple Threat of Illness, Antiscience, and Anti-Semitism
    (Rambam Maimonides Medical Journal, 2023) Hotez, Peter J.; James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy
    Because of rising antivaccine activism and some key global policy missteps, we risk eroding more than 70 years of global health gains. This is occurring through an enabled and empowered antiscience ecosystem, with anti-Semitism and the targeting of Jewish biomedical scientists at its core.
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    The Economic Effects of Proposed Changes to the Tax Treatment of Capital Gains
    (James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, 2021) Diamond, John W.; James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy
    In this paper, we examine the economic effects of enacting a proposal by the Biden Administration to tax long term capital gains at ordinary income tax rates for those with taxable income above $1 million and tax unrealized gains at the time of death (i.e., repealing step up of basis) for single (joint) filers with more than $1 million ($2 million) in unrealized gains. Current economic conditions may exacerbate the problems associated with increasing the taxation of capital gains. In particular, rising inflation would exacerbate the negative economic effects associated with taxing capital gains income at a higher rate as well as repealing step up in basis. It also exacerbates the differential treatment of current and future consumption, that is it discourages saving, that occurs under an income tax. Simulations show that in the long run GDP falls by roughly 0.3 percent, as a result of a decline in the capital stock of roughly 1.0 percent and a decline in total hours worked of 0.1 percent, and aggregate consumption falls by 0.1 percent. Initially hours worked declines by 0.1 percent in a full employment economy; if instead labor hours worked per individual were held constant, this would be roughly equivalent to a loss of approximately 209,000 jobs in that year. Real wages decrease initially by 0.2 percent, by 0.2 percent five years after enactment, and by 0.6 percent in the long run. Higher levels of inflation would exacerbate the negative economic effects of raising capital gains tax rates and repealing step up in basis. Finally, two decades of relatively slow economic growth call for increased innovation and faster diffusion of new technology, but higher capital gains tax rates will reduce innovation and technology diffusion.
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    Macroeconomic Effects of the Inflation Reduction Act
    (James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, 2022) Diamond, John W.; James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy
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    Automation Does Not Kill Jobs; It Increases Inequality
    (James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, 2020) Brito, Dagobert L.; Curl, Robert F.; James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy
    The authors have developed a model of the effects of automation upon an economy similar to the U.S. The model predicts that the most important consequence of automation is to lower the real wages of medium-skilled and low-skilled workers. Data covering the period 1984 to 2016 demonstrate, as the model predicts, that the share of these workers in domestic production has steadily, if somewhat noisily declined.
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    Minerals & Materials Supply Chains — Considerations for Decarbonizing Transportation
    (James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, 2021) Foss, Michelle Michot; James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy
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    Undocumented Immigrants in Texas: A Cost-Benefit Assessment
    (James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, 2020) Rodriguez-Sanchez, Jose Ivan; James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy
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    North America’s Shifting Supply Chains: The UMSCA, COVID-19, and the U.S.-China Trade War
    (James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, 2020) Gantz, David A.; James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy
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    The Spatial Dimension of Crime in Mexico City (2016–2019)
    (James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, 2020) Aguilera, Alfonso Valenzuela; James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy
    Crime exhibits specific geographical and chronological patterns in Latin American cities, and data on criminal activity allows scholars to trace spatial and chronological patterns down to specific neighborhoods and certain hours of the day in these cities. Over the last three decades, numerous studies have explored the relationship between crime, space, and time, and some studies have even established strong correlations between different patterns of land use and specific types of crimes. Few of these studies, however, have focused on the spatial configurations of criminal activity in cities and the conditions that elicit criminal activity in certain locations. Using recent crime data for Mexico City, this study employs a methodology based on crime location quotients to establish correlations that spatially characterize crime. This information can substantially improve public safety policies applied to urban contexts.
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    Mexico Country Outlook 2022
    (James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, 2021) James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy; James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy
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    Mexico Country Outlook 2021
    (James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, 2020) James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy; James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy
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    Mexico Country Outlook 2020
    (James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, 2020) James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy; James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy
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    Forging New Security Institutions: Mexico’s National Guard and the Challenges of Identity and New Nationalisms
    (James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, 2021) Kilroy, Richard J. Jr.; James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy
    The election of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) in Mexico in 2018 brought a populist political leader to power under a new political party (MORENA) with a nationalist agenda. One area that AMLO sought to impact immediately was public safety, due to the nation’s insecurity and violence spawned by transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) and corrupt public safety institutions. In his campaign, AMLO promised to demilitarize the conflict and take the military out of its public safety role. Yet in his first six months in office, AMLO rolled out a new National Plan for Peace and Security that called for the formation of a new hybrid military/police National Guard to lead the fight against organized crime. More recently, however, the new National Guard has been assigned duties along Mexico’s northern and southern borders to help stem the flow of migrants from Central America. Could Mexico’s National Guard enhance border security and cross-border security cooperation, or is it likely to result in additional problems amid new nationalisms on both sides of the border, including human rights violations against vulnerable migrants? This paper examines Mexico’s creation of a new security institution along the lines of a Stability Police Force (SPF) in the midst of ongoing public safety and health crises. These crises include: powerful drug cartels; corrupt police forces; mass migration; human rights violations; COVID-19; and a belligerent neighbor in the Donald Trump administration, which insisted that Mexico pay to build a border wall to contain illegal immigration. The methodology employs a SWOT analysis to evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats relating to Mexico’s National Guard as it seeks to create its own identity and mission area while facing the rising challenge of new nationalisms in Mexico and the United States at the midpoint of AMLO’s sexenio (six-year term).
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    Avoiding Conflict? United States and Mexico Future Security and Defense Scenarios
    (James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, 2020) Sumano, Abelardo Rodríguez; Kilroy, Richard J. Jr.; James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy
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    Immigrants in Strategic Sectors of the U.S. Economy and America's Labor Shortage Crisis
    (James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, 2022) Rodriguez-Sanchez, Jose Ivan; James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy
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    Immigration Policy Workshop Report
    (James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, 2021) James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy; James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy
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    A New Opportunity to Build a 21st-Century Immigration Court System
    (James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, 2021) Mendoza, Elizabeth M.; James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy
    This policy analysis examines the current state of the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR)—the country’s immigration court system—and lays out a path to modernization under the administration of President Joe Biden. Rarely has a new U.S. administration had such an immediate need and opportunity to profoundly change the immigration courts—to implement reforms that will better serve America’s interests now and in the coming decades.
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    The Quest for Elusive Reform: Undocumented Immigrants in a Polarized Nation
    (James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, 2021) Tichenor, Daniel J.; James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy