Nonrival

Expert analysis from think tanks and academia, on public policy, economics, and technology.
Human experts. AI summaries.

Abortion ballot measures won in three of four states in 2026, but voters' views were more complicated than the results suggest

kff

• Voters in Nevada, Virginia, and Missouri protected abortion access in 2026 midterm ballot measures, while Idaho rejected an expansion of abortion rights, leaving it with some of the country's most restrictive laws.
• In Missouri, Republicans tried to repeal a 2024 abortion rights amendment while also banning gender-affirming care for minors in a single measure — voters rejected it 56-44, with abortion proving far more decisive than gender care in driving their votes.
• Nearly half of Missouri voters who opposed the measure actually support banning gender-affirming care for minors, illustrating how bundling two issues forced voters to make uncomfortable tradeoffs.

Tariffs on Palm Oil Could Cut Billions of Tons of Carbon Emissions — If Countries Work Together

microecon_insights

• A new economics study finds that coordinated import tariffs on palm oil could reduce emissions by 5.4 gigatons — nearly as effective as direct production taxes — at a cost of just $15 per ton of CO2 for the EU, even after compensating Indonesia and Malaysia for their losses.
• The catch is that both coordination and long-term commitment are essential: EU tariffs acting alone reduce emissions by only 0.7 gigatons, and short-term policies have little effect because palm oil plantations are decades-long investments.
• The research offers a broader template for green trade policy: it works best in industries where production is heavily traded, concentrated in a few countries, and where demand doesn't respond much to price changes.

Health Care Costs Helped Swing the 2026 Midterms Toward Democrats, as Voters Blamed Trump for Making Things Worse

kff

• Health care was the second most important issue for 2026 midterm voters, and those very concerned about health costs favored Democratic Senate candidates over Republicans by a 2-to-1 margin — a sharp reversal from 2024, when similar voters preferred Trump over Harris.
• Majorities of voters said Trump administration health policies made their own costs and access to care worse, by at least a 5-to-1 margin over those who said things got better, and that blame translated directly into votes for Democratic House candidates.
• Democrats held a commanding advantage over Republicans as the party better trusted to handle health care — including among independents by a 3-to-1 margin — and most voters said they want the government to play a bigger role in providing health care.

In the News

NASA Tried to Save a Falling Telescope With a Robot — and the Robot Fell First

the_conversation

• NASA's Swift telescope, which spent two decades observing cosmic explosions, burned up in Earth's atmosphere in November 2026 after sinking too low to function — the result of faster-than-expected orbital decay driven by heightened solar activity.
• A robotic spacecraft called LINK was rushed to rescue Swift in under a year, but it lost two of three stabilizing wheels shortly after launch, burned through its propellant fighting an uncontrolled spin, and fell back to Earth before it could even grab the telescope.
• The failed mission highlights a core challenge for the emerging satellite-servicing industry: a rescue spacecraft that runs out of fuel or malfunctions doesn't just fail — it becomes another piece of debris, and the tight fuel budgets that make these missions affordable leave little margin for things going wrong.

Analysis

Europe Is Quietly Becoming Dependent on Israeli Weapons Even as It Condemns Israeli Policies

hoover

• As Europe scrambles to rearm against Russian and Iranian threats, it has turned increasingly to Israeli defense manufacturers for missile defense, drones, and rocket artillery — technologies European industry can't produce fast enough or at all.
• Israel now accounts for nearly 8% of European NATO arms imports, up from 4% five years ago, with deals like Germany's $6.5 billion Arrow 3 purchase representing the largest defense export in Israeli history.
• The result is a stark contradiction: European governments that have restricted arms sales to Israel and condemned its military conduct are simultaneously buying the Israeli weapons they need to defend themselves — a tension that is no longer just diplomatic but a matter of hard security.

Also Worth a Look

• The Dollar Isn't Being Replaced, But America's Debt Is Making It Costlier to Borrow (hoover)
• America's Power Grid Ambitions Are Bottlenecked by a 150-Year-Old Technology Nobody Makes Fast Enough (the_conversation)
• Giving Readers the Option to Wait for Free Can Actually Make Them Spend More (yale_som)
• Democrats' Midterm Sweep Will Reshape US Policy on NATO, Iran, and AI — but Trump Still Holds the Cards (atlantic_council)
• Why Dowry in India Surged for Decades — and What Finally Brought It Down (uva_darden)
• Canada's First National Security Strategy in 20 Years Is Bold on Vision but Short on Details (csis)
• Theranos and FTX Weren't Flukes — Decades of Deregulation Made Startup Fraud Inevitable (harvard_corpgov)