James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy

James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy

Formation	1993
Type	Public policy think tank
Location	Houston, Texas, U.S.
Director	Ambassador Edward P. Djerejian
Budget	$6.76 million (2012)
Website	bakerinstitute.org

The James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, often shortened to Baker Institute, is an American think tank on the campus of Rice University in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1993, it has become a notable center of public policy research. It is named for James Baker, former United States Secretary of State and Secretary of the Treasury. The institute's founding director, Edward P. Djerejian, is the former United States Ambassador to Israel and Syria and Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs. The institute's board of advisors include William Barnett (Chair), Colin Powell, Madeleine Albright and Rice University's President David Leebron. The institute employs scholars and researchers from a variety of backgrounds.

The institute concentrates on the public policy questions of the day. It is an integral part of Rice University, and the university's faculty and students are involved in its research programs and public events. The institute is located on the Rice campus in James A. Baker III Hall, which also houses the School of Social Sciences (including the departments of Economics and Political Science).

The institute is non-partisan and tries to bridge the gap between theory and practice in public policy. Its current research includes: Arab media and politics, conflict resolution, drug policy, energy, health economics, homeland security and terrorism, international economics, religion and culture, science and technology policy, space policy, tax and expenditure policy, the Americas Project (Latin American policy), the Transnational China Project (Chinese culture and policy), urban studies, and the U.S.-Mexico Project (issues about the U.S. border with Mexico).

The institute hosts events with national figures, which are available on their website via streaming technology. It is supported mainly by donor contributions.

The institute is a sponsoring organization for the Iraq Study Group.

From 1995 through 2001, the Baker Institute awarded the Enron Prize for Distinguished Public Service.

Research Programs

Center for the Middle East

"The Baker Institute Center for the Middle East provides policymakers, scholars and the general public with comprehensive analyses of issues, events and trends across this critical region with important implications for U.S. policy and global stability. The center encompasses research programs addressing key policy areas including Syria, Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, the political economy of the Gulf, the role of women in the countries of the region, and the implications of the “Arab Awakening.”

The Center for the Middle East builds on the Baker Institute’s long engagement with the Middle East region and provides support for research, lectures, conferences, and affiliations with other experts and organizations confronting policy challenges in the Arab world. The center offers a nonpartisan voice relying on data-driven research and direct engagement with decision-makers in the United States and in the region.

The Center for the Middle East also collaborates with the Baker Institute Center for Energy Studies as well as Rice University academics studying the history, politics and societies of the Middle East. As a meeting point for different academic disciplines and viewpoints, the center aims to foster informed, policy-relevant dialogue about often divisive issues and the future of the region.

The center’s team of fellows, scholars and research staff is led by Baker Institute founding director Edward P. Djerejian, a former U.S. ambassador to Syria and to Israel, as well as assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs."http://bakerinstitute.org/center-for-the-middle-east/about-center-middle-east/

• Conflict Resolution

Drug Policy

"Policy regarding drugs, both legal and illegal and explicitly including alcohol, poses some of the most prominent and perplexing issues facing modern societies. For nearly a century, the United States has been an active proponent of the punitive prohibition of illicit drugs. Unfortunately, the “War on Drugs” has been largely unsuccessful; prosecution of illegal drug consumption has filled our prisons without significantly reducing crime, decreasing homelessness, preventing overdose deaths, diminishing the spread of HIV or undermining the illegal drug market. Many now argue that the vision of a “drug-free” America is unrealistic. Other countries are turning to “harm reduction” policies to reduce the societal damage that illegal drug use causes. With cautious optimism, the Baker Institute Drug Policy Program pursues research and open debate on local and national drug policies in hopes of developing pragmatic policies based on common sense, driven by human rights interests, and focused on reducing the death, disease, crime and suffering associated with drug use.

William Martin, director of the Drug Policy Program, has written, lectured, lobbied and testified on such issues as needle exchange programs, reduction or removal of criminal penalties associated with low-level nonviolent drug use, and regulation and taxation of marijuana.

Gary Hale, former chief of intelligence in the Houston Field Office of the Drug Enforcement Administration, works with both the U.S. and Mexican governments as they grapple with drug trafficking organizations operating in the two countries.

Nathan Jones continues extensive research on the major Mexican drug trafficking organizations and associated violence in Mexico; oversees the Baker Institute Viewpoints blog series, which features varied stances on current drug policy issues; and leads a collaboration with the South Texas College of Law to develop model legislation for the production, distribution and use of marijuana."http://bakerinstitute.org/drug-policy-program/about-drug-program/

• Center for Energy Studies
• Health Economics
• Information Technology Policy

International Economics

"The Baker Institute International Economics Program studies many key issues in global economic policy, as well as domestic macroeconomic and developmental policy in foreign countries. Between debt concerns in Europe threatening another global financial crisis and the ascendancy of emerging economies, best typified by China becoming the world’s second-largest economy, the shape and dynamics of the global economy and its governance are undergoing significant shifts. Baker Institute researchers study the role of financial imbalances in recent and potential crises, with the intent of proposing alternative mechanisms for correcting these imbalances and reducing the tight financial coupling of global markets that leads to contagion and systemic risk. The program sponsors speakers and events that examine how global economic trends are developing, and what policies can optimally address the challenges that arise.

Baker Institute researchers have a particular expertise in emerging markets. Among other areas of study, they explore how emerging economies maintain macroeconomic stability while integrating their capital markets with the outside world. The issue is crucial because global investors are increasingly putting money into emerging economies, especially debt instruments. Consequently, recipient economies have adopted a variety of approaches to debt flows. This diversity highlights the uncertainty among policymakers and economists about the benefits and risks of foreign capital. Managing exchange-rate regimes — a complicated balance of domestic and external conditions — add another dimension to the equation. The International Economics Program focuses on capital account management — the degree of a country’s openness to foreign flows, the types of flows, and appropriate exchange rate and macroprudential policies.

With expertise on mobile banking in India and microfinance in the Arab world, the International Economics Program also seeks to examine innovative financial tools that promote inclusive growth. Baker Institute researchers are developing microfinance models that borrow lower appetites for risk from the mutualization movement and that support the growth of a stable middle class in developing countries. The institute’s long-term goal is to educate developing nations about financial structures and management, as well as to encourage the development of civil societies and foster international cooperation."http://bakerinstitute.org/international-economics-program/about-international-economics/

• Kelly Day Endowment on the Status of Women and Human Rights in the Middle East

Latin America Initiative

The mission of the Latin America Initiative is to provide a forum that fosters a better understanding of the cultures, economies, histories and contemporary affairs of Latin America. Through its main programs — the Americas Project and the Vecinos Lecture Series — the Latin America Initiative brings together leading stakeholders from government, the private sector, academia and civil society to exchange their views on pressing issues confronting the region. Additionally, this initiative sponsors research, publications and regular forums addressing social, political and economic aspects of the hemisphere, as well as of the relationships between Latin American countries and the United States.

The Americas Project brings together young leaders throughout the Americas to foster an informed and open debate on issues critical to the peoples of the Western Hemisphere.

The Vecinos Lecture Series, part of our public outreach to the Houston community and beyond, brings renowned authors, policymakers and other high-level speakers to address a variety of important topics related to Latin America.http://bakerinstitute.org/the-latin-america-initiative-program/about-latin-america-initiative/

• Public Diplomacy
• Religion and Public Policy
• Science and Technology
• Space Policy

Tax and Expenditure Policy

The research of the Baker Institute Tax and Expenditure Policy Program focuses on critical areas in the field of public finance. One of the main areas of research is the simulation of the effects of U.S. tax reform, including fundamental reform of the individual income tax, more incremental income tax reforms, and corporate tax reform. The simulation of various reforms is accomplished using a large-scale dynamic computer general equilibrium model constructed by John Diamond and George Zodrow. Other projects have focused on earnings volatility, income mobility and inequality, alternative funding options for public schools, state and local investment tax incentives, state sales taxation of services, the optimal taxation of electronic commerce, the effects of the property tax, the effects of adopting education vouchers, and public employee pension liabilities. In addition, program researchers actively participate in the policymaking process by advising various national government agencies, state and international governments, and multilateral development institutions, as well as various key individual policymakers. Program researchers also have been asked to testify before federal and state government committees.

The Tax and Expenditure Policy Program organized a major conference in April 2006 that focused on various proposals for tax reform that were under discussion in the United States at that time. The proceedings of the conference were published in 2008 by The MIT Press in a volume titled “Fundamental Tax Reform: Issues, Choices and Implications,” edited by Diamond and Zodrow. In October 2011, the Tax and Expenditure Policy Program hosted a conference that examined fiscal policy changes to deal with the short- and long-run deficits facing the United States. Findings from this conference were compiled in a volume titled “Pathways to Fiscal Reform,” edited by Diamond and Zodrow, to be published in 2014 by The MIT Press.

Additionally, Zodrow and Diamond hold key editorial roles at the National Tax Journal, the leading publication for the dissemination of high-quality original research on governmental tax and expenditure policies. Zodrow is a co-editor and Diamond is forum editor. Zodrow was also honored by the National Tax Association in 2010 with the Steven D. Gold Award for significant contributions to state and local fiscal policy.http://bakerinstitute.org/tax-and-expenditure-policy/about-tax-and-expenditure-policy/

• Transnational China Project

Lecture Series

• Chevron Excellence in Leadership Energy Lecture Series
• Robert A. Mosbacher Global Issues Series
• Shell Distinguished Lecture Series
• Civic Scientist Lecture Series

Key people

• Secretary of State James A. Baker III (Honorary Chair)
• Ambassador Edward P. Djerejian
• George Abbey
• Dr. Allen Matusow
• Dr. Samih Al-Abed
• Joe Barnes
• Robert Bazell
• Andrew Bowen
• Dr. Douglas Brinkley
• Dr. Christopher Bronk
• Kristian Coates Ulrichsen
• Erika De La Garza
• Dr. John W. Diamond
• Dr. Elaine Howard Ecklund
• Dr. Russell A. Green
• Gary J. Hale
• Dr. Yair Hirschfeld
• Dr. Vivian Ho
• Dr. Peter Hotez
• Dr. Mark P. Jones
• Dr. Nathan P. Jones
• Dr. Hagop M. Kantarjian
• Dr. Aynne Kokas
• Dr. Jim Krane
• Marta Lagos
• Dr. Neal Lane
• Dr. Steven W. Lewis
• Dr. Michael Maher
• Dr. David R. Mares
• Elena Marks
• Dr. D. Michael Lindsay (former)
• Dr. William Martin
• Dr. Kirstin Matthews
• Dr. Kenneth B. Medlock III
• Dr. John Mendelsohn
• Dr. Francisco Monaldi
• Dr. José Antonio Ocampo
• Dr. Tony Payan
• Dr. Maude Rowland Cuchiara
• Dr. Luis Rubio
• Dr. Marwa Shalaby
• Dr. Deepak Srivastava
• Dr. Ronald L. Sass
• Dr. Robert M. Stein
• Dr. Constantino Urcuyo
• Dr. Dagobert Brito
• Dr. Daniel Cohen
• Dr. David Cook
• Dr. Robert Curl
• Dr. André W. Droxler
• Dr. Mahmoud El-Gamal
• Dr. S. Malcolm Gillis
• Dr. Peter R. Hartley
• Dr. Rachel Kimbro
• Dr. Moramay López-Alonso
• Dr. Ussama Makdisi
• Dr. Caroline A. Marisello
• Dr. Peter Mieszkowski
• Dr. Nicolas Shumway
• Dr. Richard Smith
• Dr. Ronald Soligo
• Dr. Richard Stoll
• Dr. Diana Strassmann
• Dr. Ted Temzelides
• Dr. Dan Wallach
• Dr. Sarah Whiting
• Ron Witte
• Dr. George Zodrow

External links

• James Baker Institute official website
• Baker Institute Blog: Insight and Analysis from the Fellows of the Baker Institute
• Rice University Official Website
• The Baker Institute Energy Forum
• Behind the Bipartisan Drive Toward War
• Baker Institute for Public Policy page at Sourcewatch