Research Department Working Papers
The Fatal Consequences of Brain Drain
This paper examines the welfare consequences of reallocating high-skilled labor across national borders.
August 04, 2025
Advances in AI will boost productivity, living standards over time
Artificial intelligence offers the potential to improve people’s living standards. Such advances can be approximated by changes in GDP per capita over time. Using that common measure, AI could enhance longstanding productivity gains or, alternatively, drastically alter the economy in relatively short order.
June 24, 2025
Will AI replace your job? Perhaps not in the next decade
Recent rapid improvements in the capabilities of artificial intelligence have raised concerns about these technologies' impact on employment. The ultimate effects of AI on the workforce will depend on the extent to which AI augments (or complements) rather than automates (or substitutes for) workers' tasks. Will this new technology aid workers or replace them?
June 03, 2025
Santa Teresa port of entry navigates future during fraught time
Jerry Pacheco, president of the Border Industrial Association in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, discusses his work attracting investment from private and public sources for the Santa Teresa project and its prospects in an environment of rapidly changing rules of trade.
May 30, 2025
Waco building on ‘Fixer Upper,’ Baylor notoriety to reinvent itself
Malcolm Duncan, whose tenure as Waco mayor coincided with the city’s emergence as a destination and area economic hub, discusses how the city has changed and where its future fortunes and challenges lie.
May 09, 2025
Industrial building boom is bigger in Texas, signaling growth wave
Texas is undergoing a boom in technology and energy-related construction that follows a pandemic-era warehouse and logistics building surge.
February 05, 2025
As population trends shift, where will future workers come from?
Population is a fundamental determinant of a country’s productive capacity. More specifically, labor, along with capital and the efficiency with which the two can be combined (total factor productivity) determine how much a country can produce at any point in time.
January 07, 2025
Research Department Working Papers
Structural Change in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Open Economy Perspective
This paper studies the evolution of manufacturing value added shares in 11 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries through the lens of an open economy model of structural change.
December 24, 2024
Globalization Institute Working Paper
Deindustrialization and Industry Polarization
This paper adds to recent evidence on deindustrialization and documents a new pattern: increasing industry polarization over time.
August 05, 2024
Mexico’s productivity woes limit nearshoring, growth potential
Industrial policy reform, nearshoring and a deeper Mexico–U.S. partnership could provide tailwinds for Mexican economic growth. Whether Mexico can harness the full potential of such transformative change is less clear.
April 16, 2024