Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) evaluations impact firms' market value, but inconsistencies and uncertainties in these assessments suggest that following past practice may not be the best way forward. The future lies in a more focused version of ESG principles, one that resembles environmental risk management.
It may pay to shop around for health care. New legislation requiring transparency in health insurance coverage allows price comparisons between hospitals, across hospital systems, and with different insurers. In a new issue brief, Vivian Ho and co-author Evelyn Li compare quality and analyze pricing data from Houston area hospitals.
A comparison of the prices at three major Houston hospitals — Houston Methodist, St. Luke’s Health and Memorial Hermann — associated with Blue Cross Blue Shield and UnitedHealthcare PPO health plans finds wide-ranging costs for services.
In the wake of the collapse of Terra — a once-prosperous blockchain network that suffered one of the biggest falls in the history of cryptocurrency — the authors discuss recent government efforts to regulate digital assets.
Alexander Hernández Romanowski, Helen BrantleyJuly 22, 2022
Rising health care costs and generational attitudes toward convenience and the ability to personalize life choices are driving a trend toward greater individual responsibility over the use of health care services.
A study comparing the community benefit expenditures of two sets of Houston hospitals leads the authors to propose strategies that can better justify the tax exemptions the institutions enjoy.
Alex Alexander, Marah Short, Vivian HoFebruary 8, 2018
The landscape is changing for foreign direct investment in Latin America. Investments flow not only from north to south, but also from south to south and south to north. What's more, relatively small firms in developing countries are becoming as likely as multinationals to invest abroad.
Almost two-thirds of Texans ages 18 to 64 stayed insured with health care coverage during the past 12 months, according to a new report by Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and the Episcopal Health Foundation.
Shao-Chee Sim, Elena M. Marks, Vivian HoOctober 31, 2016
The percentage of young adults ages 18 to 34 in Texas without health insurance has dropped by 35 percent since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) went into effect.
Elena M. Marks, Vivian Ho, Shao-Chee SimAugust 23, 2016
The percentage of Hispanics in Texas without health insurance has dropped by 30 percent since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) went into effect, but almost one-third of Hispanic Texans ages 18 to 64 remain uninsured.
Elena M. Marks, Vivian Ho, Shao-Chee SimJuly 14, 2016