SMU Tower Center Blog

Recap | Economic Impact of the Republican Tax Bill

economic impact republican tax bill — SMU’s Thomas Osang listens to Ryan Bourne from the Cato Institute present at the SMU Tower Center March 6.

President Donald Trump signed the Republican tax bill, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, into law in December. It was the greatest one-time reduction in the corporate tax rate, from 35 percent to 21 percent, in U.S. history.

Cato Institute’s Ryan Bourne visited the SMU Tower Center to discuss the economic implications of the bill. Bourne examined the impact through three inter-linked lenses: the direct financial impact on families, the impact on economic efficiency and growth, and the impact on the federal debt burden.

Tower Center Experts Weigh in on Texas Primaries

Tower Center Senior Fellows Matthew Wilson and Harold Clarke commented on the…

Postdoctoral Fellow Danielle Lemi Published in Du Bois Review

Our Postdoctoral Fellow in Latino Public Policy Danielle Lemi had her work “Are…

Recap | America’s Next War and How to Prevent It

Paul B. Stares, director of the Center for Preventive Action at the Council on Foreign Relations, presented ideas from his new book in a talk at the Tower Center “America’s Next War and How to Prevent It.”

Stares argues that there’s been a reversal of post-Cold War trends. Growing friction among great power countries and increasing organized violence in unstable regions of the world make the case that the United States is facing a growing risk of conflict.

Cal Jillson on the Democratic Surge in Texas Primaries

Tower Center Associate Cal Jillson was quoted in an NPR article discussing…

Students Interview Ambassador Swanee Hunt

Three Highland Capital Management Tower Scholars interviewed former Ambassador Swanee Hunt about issues facing women and starting a career in D.C. before her talk at the Tower Center Feb. 19, “Rwandan Women Rising.”

HCM Tower Scholar Morgan Peterson: 64% of Rwanda’s National Parliament is made up of women. How can that model of representation be implemented all across the world?

Alexander Betts: Don’t Make African Nations Borrow Money to Support Refugees

Tower Center Fellow Alexander Betts wrote an op-ed for Foreign Policy, “Don’t…

Matthew Wilson: Ted Cruz Should Run Scared

Tower Center Senior Fellow Matthew Wilson was interviewed by Fox news about…

Tower Scholar Starts His Own Political Consulting Firm

Last year Highland Capital Management Tower Scholar Zach Miller started his own…

Recap | How India is Making its Place in the World

Alyssa Ayres, Senior Fellow for India, Pakistan, and South Asia at the Council of Foreign relations, visited the SMU Tower Center to talk about her new book, Our Time Has Come: How India is Making Its Place in the World. India has the third largest military in the world, it has the fifth largest defense budget, and it’s the world’s seventh largest economy.