Research Library

The House recently passed the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act (TRAFWA) of 2024, which aims to provide tax relief to businesses and families with children in a fiscally responsible manner. But, as fellow John W. Diamond’s new commentary explains, if the bill succeeds, it would instead deliver more reckless tax giveaways while further delaying a real effort to deal with the consequences of poor fiscal policy.

Legislative action on the ballooning federal deficit is long overdue. Fellow John W. Diamond proposes a new nonpartisan fiscal commission to bypass congressional inaction on reform.

Like the 1973 embargo, today’s crises have rendered the future of energy massively uncertain, write fellows Jim Krane and Mark Finley.

Convening war rooms, planning speedy bailouts and raising "house-on-fire" alarm bells: Those are a few of the ways the biggest banks and financial regulators are preparing for a potential default on U.S. debt.

Texas lawmakers must address the misuse of anticipation notes — short-term debt securities used to raise money for public projects, writes John Diamond, the Edward A. and Hermena Hancock Kelly Fellow in Public Finance. Since they don’t require voter approval, politicians could use them to fund unwanted projects, he explains.

What’s the cheapest, quickest way to reduce climate change without roiling the economy? In the United States, it may be by reducing methane emissions from the oil and gas industry.

The most recent price tag for Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan is an estimated half-trillion dollars or more. Will higher inflation be another cost?

"With the pressures of climate change and the urgency to incorporate alternative energy resources like wind and solar, the fixation on the purported benefits of energy transition technologies overshadows the glaring reality — an absence of strategy around identifying and quantifying other life cycle externalities, such as waste disposal or environmental impacts," write fellow Rachel Meidl and research assistant Mathilde Saada. Read more on the Baker Institute Blog.

To better reflect the iterative collaboration necessary for scientific progress, the Nobel Prize must expand its recognition to the many contributors of winning discoveries as well as diversify the selection committee, thereby also expanding recognition of the work of underrepresented minorities, argues this Baker Institute Blog post.