The Takeaway offers its readers concrete ideas to take away and integrate into their thinking about a policy problem or current event. It features concise, well-reasoned analysis, thoughtful policy discussion, and practical recommendations on the key issues facing decision makers.
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Volume 12 (2021)
October 21: Local Government Control: The Case of Municipal Incorporation in The Woodlands Township, Texas
By Robert Greer, Ann Bowman, Brian Nakamura, and Crayton Brubaker
The Woodlands, Texas is the Lone Star State’s only township government, but that distinction could change if voters in The Woodlands support a November referendum to incorporate as a city. This report provides context and considerations related to becoming a municipality including issues of local control, funding, inter-jurisdictional coordination, and governance.
September 20: The Elitism of Armed Rebellion
By Reyko Huang
Civil wars are the most common form of warfare today, yet we have little systematic information on the leaders of rebel organizations. A new research tool helps fill that gap.
September 9: Warfare is a “Train Wreck” for Global Supply Chains
By Andres Jola-Sanchez
Although warfare is a pervasive geopolitical risk, its effects on firms’ day-to-day operations are poorly understood. This article discusses recent evidence on how war influences firms’ operations and offers public policy insights to address those effects.
Read The Takeaway, Warfare is a “Train Wreck” for Global Supply Chains
May 18: Lobbying in Good Times and in Bad
By Anastasia Shcherbakova and Helen Wakefield
Money plays a big role in US politics. There are two primary ways of amassing political influence: donations to campaigns and political action committees (PACs) and lobbying. With no limits on lobbying expenditures, this activity has historically garnered the largest spending. In today’s markets, firms cannot be successful without considering their political environment. Because of this, competitive market behavior and political rent-seeking (like lobbying) have become strategic complements, and firms redistribute their spending across market and political activities based on which arena offers the best chance at increasing revenues.
April 29: The Senior Healthcare Divide in Texas
By Sallie Sherman
Texas is getting older. The two fastest-growing age groups are 85+ and 65-84, and they will make up 17% of the total population by 2050. Texas seniors are also experiencing higher rates of often-preventable and non-communicable diseases than ever before, outpacing most other states. Central barriers to effective healthcare could be overcome or mitigated with a few policy changes. The author is a Bush School student whose work was supported by a research fellowship from The Texas Lyceum.
Read The Takeaway, The Senior Healthcare Divide in Texas
In the news on this research:
- Health care for seniors in rural Texas is in jeopardy, The Dallas Morning News
March 31: Public-Private Partnerships in the Water Sector
By Robert A. Greer and Lindsey Pressler
Public-private partnerships (PPPs) have grown in popularity as a method to leverage private-sector actors in the production of government services. With the global challenge of water insecurity, PPPs are becoming more common for large-scale water infrastructure projects such as desalination. Desalination facilities are complex and expensive operations, which means that understanding the appropriate context for PPPs is increasingly important.
Read The Takeaway, Public-Private Partnerships in the Water Sector
February 26: Female Role Model Impact on the Gender Attitudes of Children: Evidence from Elementary Schools in Somalia
By Danila Serra
Achieving an education in the poorest countries is difficult. Both infrastructures and human resources may be lacking, and the demand for education may be low. Moreover, the prevailing gender norms may be biased against women, leading to severe imbalances in access to education and higher-return jobs. This brief reports on an intervention consisting in male and female college students visiting elementary schools in Somalia, with the aim of increasing educational aspirations and reducing gender inequality.
No. 14 Improving Working Conditions in Global Value Chains
Raymond Robertson and Benjamin Zimmer
No. 13 How U.S. Patchwork Land Ownership and Regulation Affects Oil and Gas Drilling
Eric Lewis
No. 12 Medicaid Expansion’s Impact in Texas
Laura Dague and Constance Hughes
- As COVID-19 leaves Texans jobless and lacking health insurance, lawmakers mull expanding Medicaid, The Dallas Morning News
- County-level projections of Medicaid expansion’s impact in Texas, The full Episcopal Health Foundation report
- About A Million Texans Could Gain Health Insurance This Year If Texas Expands Medicaid, Study Finds, KUT Austin
- Medicaid expansion could bring Texas $5.4 billion in federal dollars, study says, The Houston Chronicle
- Medicaid expansion could bring Texas $5.4 billion in federal dollars, study says, Midland Reporter-Telegram
- Medicaid Expansion Could Mean $5.4B in Federal Funds for TX, Health Payer Intelligence
- Bush School study estimates impact of Medicaid expansion in Texas, State of Reform
No. 11 Call of the Pandemic: Rethinking Global Value Chains
Anupam Agrawal
No. 10 Identity, Resilience, and Risk in the Informal Sector: Differential Effects of COVID-19 in Lagos, Nigeria
Jessica Gottlieb
- How the coronavirus pandemic is fueling ethnic hatred, The Washington Post
No. 9 Artificial Intelligence: A Double-edged Sword
Justin Bullock
No. 8 Achieving the DREAM: The Effect of IRCA on Immigrant Youth Post-Secondary Educational Access
Tyler Tidwell
No. 7 Sustainable Funding Options for Texas Wildlife Conservation
Student Capstone Project
No. 6 COVID-19 No Match for the Forces of Global Trade
Richard Metters
No. 5 Shell Games: Chinese Reverse Merger Fraud
Benjamin Zimmer, Joseph Balmain Rodgers, and Brian Tripsa
No. 4 Humanitarian Response to COVID-19
Andres F. Jola-Sanchez
No. 3 Lobbying Battles in the Libyan War
Reyko Huang
No. 2 Property Buyouts After Natural Disasters: The Economic Implications for Texas Residents
Michael Migaud
No. 1 California’s Solar Rooftop Experience: An Update
James M. Griffin
No. 8 How US Imports from China Affect Mexican Labor Markets
Raymond Robertson
No. 7 Financial Implications of Coal-to-Gas Fuel Switching
Anastasia Shcherbakova
No. 6 Voter Turnout in Texas: Can It Be Higher?
James McKenzie
No. 5 Humanitarian Crisis on the Southwest Border
Madison L. Moore
No. 4 The Permian Basin: A Tribute to American Innovation and Entrepreneurship
James M. Griffin and Robert Joseph Ladmirault Jr
No. 3 Governing the Water-Energy-Food Nexus: What it Is and Why it Matters
Kent E. Portney
No. 2 Two More Reasons Why the Federal Debt Matters
Raymond Robertson
No. 1 California’s Solar Rooftop Experience: A Report Card
James M. Griffin and Robert Joseph Ladmirault Jr.
No. 5 Why We Need the USMCA (the agreement formerly known as NAFTA)
Raymond Robertson
No. 4 Nonprofit Donor Motivation Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
Kenneth Anderson Taylor
- How Houston nonprofits are affected by the new tax cuts and jobs act, Houston Business Journal
No. 3 Not Enough Progress: Texas Still Leading in Health Uninsurance Rates
Ashley Thomas
No. 2 Texas Groundwater: Dispelling Some Common Misconceptions
James M. Griffin
- Interjecting economics into the groundwater policy dialogue, Texas Water Journal (2017)
No. 1 Understanding China’s Currency Manipulation
Rebecca Skaff, Lincoln Webb, and Kyle Clahane
No. 3 Are There Benefits to a Higher Standard?: The Effects of Raising the Standard Tax Deduction
Lori L. Taylor
No. 2 IT Can Be Done: Reducing Payment Errors in Unemployment Insurance
Justin Bullock and Robert Greer
No. 1 A Smart, Price-Based Energy Policy
James M. Griffin
No. 3 The NAFTA Intellect Disconnect: Actual Costs and Benefits versus Popular Perceptions
Raymond Robertson
No. 2 Phantom Capital: How Regulation Weakens Texas Groundwater Resources
Wayne R. Beckermann and Mason Riley Parish
No. 1 Giving an “F” to the Franchise Tax: The Texas Franchise Tax Fails to Fund
Lori L. Taylor, Erica Cottingham, and Allison Shea
- January 11, 2017: Leffingwell: It’s time to repeal the state Franchise Tax, Austin American-Statesman
No. 7 Striking a Workable Balance: Labor Provisions in the Trans-Pacific Partnership
Raymond Robertson
No. 6 Environmental Regulation
Manuel P. Teodoro and David M. Konisky
No. 5 The Hidden Tax of Jury Service
Lori L. Taylor
No. 4 When Equal is Not Equitable: Adjusting for Geographic Differences in Education Costs
Lori L. Taylor
No. 3 Fairer Trade: Removing Gender Bias in US Import Taxes
Lori L. Taylor and Jawad Dar
- March 8, 2016: A look behind the gap, The Battalion
- March 8, 2016: Texas A&M prof on pink tax: Tariffs can be six times higher for women’s clothes, The Dallas Morning News
- March 9, 2016: Study: Women’s apparel tariffs as much as 6x higher than men’s, The Eagle
- March 14: 2016: Why are women paying the ‘Pink Tax’ on clothing?, Texas Standard
- March 23, 2016: Why Fashion’s ‘Pink Tax’ Means Women Pay More, Business of Fashion in London
No. 2 Bumpy Road Ahead: Bracing for Insolvency in the Highway Trust Fund
Jawad Dar and Lori L. Taylor
No. 1 Reaching More for Less: Modernizing US International Food Aid Programs
Andrew Natsios
No. 7 Water Use for Hydraulic Fracturing: A Texas Sized Problem?
David LeClere
No. 6 The War on Poverty Needs a New Map
Lori L. Taylor and Jawad Dar
No. 5 Free Trade in Oil and Natural Gas
James M. Griffin and F. Gregory Gause, III
No. 4 Texas Cities in the Era of Government Transparency
Domonic A. Bearfield and Ann O’M. Bowman
No. 3 Avoiding the Mistakes of the Past: Rejecting Protectionism and Embracing the Global Economy
Kishore Gawande and David LeClere
No. 2 Preschool for All?: Simple Keys to Maximizing Return on Investment and Avoiding Unintended Consequences
Lori L. Taylor
- Op-Ed in Longview, Texas’ News-Journal – September 20, 2014
Lori L. Taylor - Op-Ed in TribTalk, a publication of The Texas Tribune – October 5, 2014
Lori L. Taylor
No. 1 A Time for Political Courage: The Federal Debt Crisis in 2014
Lori L. Taylor and James M. Griffin
No. 1 The Latest Unanticipated Consequence in the Ethanol Fiasco
James M. Griffin
- Scholarly article in The Energy Journal, “U.S. Ethanol Policy: Time to Reconsider?” https://dx.doi.org/10.5547/01956574.34.4
- American Energy Alliance’s “Bright Bulb” Award – January 24, 2014
No. 2 Ethanol Waivers: Needed or Irrelevant
James M. Griffin and Rachael Dahl
- Op-ed in the Houston Chronicle – November 16, 2012
James M. Griffin and Rachael Dahl - Op-ed in the Dallas Morning News – December 2, 2012
James M. Griffin and Rachael Dahl
No. 1 U.S. Ethanol Policy: The Unintended Consequences
James M. Griffin and Mauricio Cifuentes-Soto
No. 2 Deficit Reduction: $38 Billion Won’t Cut It
James M. Griffin and Lori L. Taylor
No. 1 Stop Playing Favorites with the Tax Code
Lori L. Taylor
- Op-Ed in the Houston Chronicle – Jan. 30, 2011
Lori Taylor - Op-Ed in the Dallas Morning News – Feb. 4, 2011
Lori Taylor
No. 2 The Time for A Carbon Tax Is Now
James M. Griffin and Kishore Gawande
- Op-ed in the Houston Chronicle – Sept. 18, 2010
James M. Griffin and Kishore Gawande - Op-ed in the Houston Chronicle – June 12, 2010
James M. Griffin
No. 1 The Oil Debacle in the Gulf of Mexico:
An Alternative to the Coming Flood of Offshore Regulations
James M. Griffin
