Baker Briefing

Bonus: Women, War, and State Power in Russia

On Oct. 30, journalist Julia Ioffe visited the Baker Institute to discuss her new book: “Motherland: A Feminist History of Modern Russia, from Revolution to Autocracy.” This episode is a condensed version of her conversation with Alan Crain, chairman of the Houston Committee on Foreign Relations, on how women’s roles in Russia — from the Bolshevik revolution to the present — have both mirrored and shaped political power.
Want to watch the full event? View it on our website: https://bit.ly/3JPVg00.
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You can follow @BakerInstitute on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Learn more about our data-driven, nonpartisan policy research and analysis at bakerinstitute.org.

7: Reimagining US-Mexico Water Cooperation

A water crisis along the U.S.-Mexico border is growing. The 1944 Water Treaty has long guided how both nations share the Rio Grande and Colorado rivers, but climate change, drought, and growing demand are testing its limits. Guest host Tony Payan speaks with Rosario Sanchez, a senior research scientist at the Texas Water Resources Institute, and Ivonne Cruz, a research scholar at the Baker Institute, about how to rethink water cooperation for an age of scarcity — and what it will take to build a more resilient future for both countries.
Featured guests:
Ivonne Cruz, Ph.D., https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/ivonne-cruz
Rosario Sanchez, Ph.D., https://twri.tamu.edu/rosario-sanchez/
Mentioned in this episode:
Mexico Country Outlook 2026, Rice University’s Baker Institute, https://www.bakerinstitute.org/research/mexico-country-outlook-2026
This conversation was recorded on Oct. 23, 2025. You can follow @BakerInstitute on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Learn more about our data-driven, nonpartisan policy research and analysis at bakerinstitute.org.

6: America’s New Demographic Reality

For the first time in decades, the U.S. immigrant population is declining — and with it, the country's long-held assumption of steady population growth. Bill King joins the podcast to discuss how demographic trends and President Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration policies are shaping the nation’s future labor force, economy, and identity, as well the importance of rational immigration policy for dealing with the challenges of global depopulation.
This conversation was recorded on Oct. 13, 2025.
Featured guest:
Bill King, https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/bill-king 
Mentioned in this episode:
Bill King, Depopulation: Our New Demographic Reality (Stoney Creek Publishing, forthcoming).
You can follow @BakerInstitute on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Learn more about our data-driven, nonpartisan policy research and analysis at bakerinstitute.org.

5: Rebooting the Global Humanitarian Aid System

The global humanitarian aid system is facing an existential crisis. Despite more than 300 million people in need of urgent aid in 2025 — nearly four times the number from just a decade ago — countries around the world have slashed aid budgets. The U.S. alone has cut nearly $8 billion in aid funding under President Donald Trump, in addition to his administration’s far-reaching dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
Now, the sector must move quickly and strategically to survive and continue to respond to humanitarian emergencies around the world. Sonali Korde, a Baker Institute visiting fellow and former head of USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, joined a live recording of the podcast to explore the current upheaval and possible avenues for systemic reform.
This conversation was recorded on Oct. 9, 2025. 
Featured guests:
Sonali Korde, https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/sonali-korde
Mentioned in this episode:
Sonali Korde, “Strengthening the Humanitarian Sector Brick by Brick,” Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, August 11, 2025.
You can follow @BakerInstitute on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Learn more about our data-driven, nonpartisan policy research and analysis at bakerinstitute.org.

4: Politics and Propaganda in the Digital Media Age

China Studies Program experts Steven Lewis and Brandon Zheng join guest host Michael Emerson to explore how governments and organizations around the world are leveraging digital platforms in increasingly savvy ways — from TikTok videos to anime mascots — to spread political messaging and shape public opinion. They draw on their recent research examining urban propaganda in China and the use of “cuteness” as a communication tool to illustrate how the global political landscape has transformed in the age of digital media.
This conversation was recorded on Sept. 26, 2025. 
Featured:
Steven Lewis, Ph.D., https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/steven-w-lewis 
Brandon Zheng, https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/steven-w-lewis
Michael Emerson, Ph.D., https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/michael-o-emerson 
Mentioned in this episode:
Brandon Zheng, “The Conquest of Cute: Political Communication, Public Diplomacy, and Anime,” Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, September 4, 2025.
Brandon Zheng and Steven W. Lewis, “Central Versus Local Propaganda Under Xi Jinping: An Introduction to Images in the China Urban Outdoor Propaganda Image Archive, 1998 to 2019,” Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, June 3, 2025.
Thomas Frank, The Conquest of Cool: Business Culture, Counterculture, and the Rise of Hip Consumerism (The University of Chicago Press, 1997).
You can follow @BakerInstitute on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Learn more about our data-driven, nonpartisan policy research and analysis at bakerinstitute.org.

3: Is Artificial Intelligence Reshaping Higher Education?

What does the acceleration of artificial intelligence mean for higher education, from the admissions process to students’ academic and intellectual development? How can students learn to engage responsibly with AI, and what does it mean for the early graduate labor market?
Baker Institute fellow and guest host Michael Emerson sat down with Rice University Provost Amy Dittmar, University of Houston Associate Provost Jeff Morgan, and Burke Nixon, a core lecturer in Rice’s writing and communication program, to discuss the advent of AI and its implications for colleges and universities.
This conversation was recorded in front of a live studio audience on September 17, 2025. 
Featured:
Michael Emerson, Ph.D., https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/michael-o-emerson 
Amy Dittmar, Ph.D., https://profiles.rice.edu/faculty/amy-dittmar 
Jeffrey Morgan, Ph.D., https://www.uh.edu/provost/about/office-of-the-provost-leadership/jeff-morgan/index.php 
Burke Nixon, https://pwc.rice.edu/about-us/lecturers/burke-nixon 
Mentioned in this episode:
“Opinion: No, AI chatbots haven't killed the college essay. Here's why,” www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/outlook/article/ChatGPT-AI-technology-writing-obsolete-college-17680035.php
Learn about future live recordings of the “Baker Briefing” podcast by subscribing to our “Events Digest” newsletter at https://www.bakerinstitute.org/newsletter.
You can follow @BakerInstitute on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Learn more about our data-driven, nonpartisan policy research and analysis at bakerinstitute.org.

2: Make America Healthy Again? RFK Jr. and the Dangerous Vaccine-Autism Myth

The Baker Institute’s Kirstin Matthews and Rekha Lakshmanan join the podcast to discuss recent policy developments under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his Make America Healthy Again commission, plus the persistent — and dangerous — misinformation linking autism with vaccines.
This conversation was recorded on Sept. 15, 2025. 
Featured guests:
Kirstin Matthews, Ph.D., https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/kirstin-rw-matthews
Rekha Lakshmanan, https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/rekha-lakshmanan
You can follow @BakerInstitute on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Learn more about our data-driven, nonpartisan policy research and analysis at bakerinstitute.org.

1: Iran After the War

Fellow for the Middle East Mohammad Ayatollahi Tabaar joins the podcast to discuss the geopolitical and diplomatic fallout from the 12-day Israel-Iran war. He explores Iran’s internal politics in the aftermath of the conflict, the future of its nuclear program, and the regional balance of power.
 
Featured:
Mohammad Tabaar, Ph.D., https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/mohammad-ayatollahi-tabaar
Mentioned in this episode:
Mohammad Ayatollahi Tabaar, “The Islamic Republic’s New Lease on Life,” Foreign Affairs, July 8, 2025.
This conversation was recorded on Sept. 5, 2025.
You can follow @BakerInstitute on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Learn more about our data-driven, nonpartisan policy research and analysis at bakerinstitute.org.
 

Introducing Season 2

Baker Institute Director David M. Satterfield sits down with Karina Zemel, lead producer of the “Baker Briefing” podcast, to discuss the challenges of communicating policy in a politically polarized era and the conversations ahead on Season 2 of the podcast.

From ‘The Two-Handed Economist’: Trump Tariff Ruling, De Minimis Exemption, and an Economy Losing Steam

We’re taking a short break as we gear up to launch Season 2 of the podcast next week. But we’re excited to share the latest episode of “The Two-Handed Economist,” a podcast from our Center for Tax and Budget Policy.
On this episode, John Diamond explores three major economic developments from the past week, including a federal appeals ruling that struck down President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs and new jobs numbers that show an increasingly fragile labor market. John breaks down what all this means and how a reversal of Trump’s tariffs could help the Fed save the economy.
This conversation was recorded on Sept. 3, 2025. 
Clips used in this episode:
“BREAKING: U.S. appeals court rules Trump's global tariffs are illegal,” NBC News, August 29, 2025.
“‘US will be destroyed if…’” The Economic Times, September 1, 2025.
“Trump ends tariff exemption for low-value packages,” CNN, August 29, 2025.
“US July Jolts Report: Job openings fall by 176,000,” Bloomberg Television, September 3, 2025.
Follow John Diamond on X (@jw_diamond) and LinkedIn.
You can follow @BakerInstitute on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Learn more about our data-driven, nonpartisan policy research and analysis at bakerinstitute.org.