Baker Briefing

Dec 04 2024 68 ep. 23 mins 4
Baker Briefing Podcast artwork

Baker Briefing is tackles the most critical foreign and domestic policy issues of the day in conversations with experts at Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. New episodes are released weekly.

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69: How Far Will Vaccine Skepticism Go?

Dec 04 2024 30 mins  
With the development of the COVID-19 vaccine in late 2020, anti-vaccine rhetoric in the U.S. expanded dramatically. Vaccines have been routinely recommended in the U.S. since the early 20th century, and they have significantly reduced the prevalence of diseases like polio, measles, and tetanus. But with the pandemic, what was once a mostly politically neutral topic — immunizatio

68: The Politicization of Humanitarian Aid Explained

Nov 19 2024 24 mins  
Armed conflicts in Gaza, Sudan, and Syria have made millions reliant on humanitarian assistance. However, the provision of critical food, water, health care, and other resource assistance has been complicated by the politicization of aid, highlighted by the recent decision by the Israeli parliament to ban UNRWA, the primary aid organization for Palestinians. Women’s Rights, Huma

67: Accelerating Clean, Affordable Electricity

Nov 11 2024 28 mins  
Clean electricity technologies are here and they’re affordable. So why does most of our power in the U.S. still come from fossil fuels? Daniel Cohan, a civil and environmental engineering professor at Rice University and a Baker Institute Rice faculty scholar, joined Baker Briefing to explain how bureaucratic bottlenecks have led to a backlog of wind, solar, and battery storag

66: Christian Nationalism’s Rising Influence

Oct 28 2024 24 mins  
What role should religion — and Christianity in particular — play in public life? This question is at the center of legislative battles brewing in statehouses across the country. It stems largely from the growing influence of Christian nationalism, an ideology based around the idea that the United States is a Christian nation and that its government should follow conservative

65: Translating Texas’ Health Care Spending Into Better Outcomes

Oct 14 2024 25 mins  
Despite spending more on health care by percentage of GDP than its peer high-income countries, the U.S. hasn’t seen the abundance of services or improved outcomes for patients that one might expect. Instead, as medical costs increase, U.S. health outcomes continue to lag behind those of other developed nations. Texas, which spends nearly $50 billion on health care annually,

64: Looking Ahead to the USMCA Review

Oct 01 2024 22 mins  
On July 1, 2026, the U.S., Mexico, and Canada will decide whether or not to continue the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which entered into force in 2020. How can policymakers prepare for the negotiations and continue to work toward a strategic, mutually beneficial North American partnership? This episode of Baker Briefing was originally published by the Méx

62: Claudia Sheinbaum and AMLO’s Looming Shadow

Sep 16 2024 30 mins  
Late last month, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico announced a “pause” in relations with the U.S. embassy. These latest tensions between the two countries came after U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar criticized López Obrador’s proposed judicial reforms, which include electing judges by popular vote. Salazar called this measure “a major risk to the f

61: Energy Market Developments to Watch

Sep 09 2024 24 mins  
How might the future of energy unfold? Ken Medlock joined the Baker Briefing podcast to discuss the latest insights from our Center for Energy Studies experts on energy markets, geopolitics, sustainability, technology, and more A glimpse into their research is compiled in “Energy Insights 2024,” a collection of articles designed to illuminate paths forward for policymakers and

60: American Christianity, Race, and Politics

Sep 03 2024 23 mins  
The right to believe what you want is baked into the fabric of American society. But throughout U.S. history, there has been considerable disagreement over how much influence those beliefs should have in law and government — particularly the Christian ideals many believe the nation was founded on. Michael O. Emerson joined the podcast to explore not only the role of faith i

59: Venezuela’s Energy Future Hangs in the Balance

Aug 30 2024 20 mins  
In late July, Venezuela’s electoral authority declared President Nicolás Maduro had won reelection — a result the opposition says was blatantly manipulated. The results were also denounced by the U.S., the E.U., and a number of Latin American countries. On this episode of Baker Briefing, Francisco Monaldi discusses what the post-election chaos means for the country’s troub