Research Library

The rate of adults without health insurance across the U.S. dropped nearly twice as much as in Texas from 2013 to 2015, according to a new report released today by Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and the Episcopal Health Foundation.

A larger percentage of Texas workers are getting health insurance through their employers now than before the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, according to a new report released by Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and the Episcopal Health Foundation.

Concerned about high medical bills, uninsured Texans are twice as likely as the insured to delay or forgo health care. That’s one of the findings of a new survey released today by Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and the Episcopal Health Foundation.

Texas’ uninsured population remains primarily Hispanic, middle-aged, with low incomes and without a college degree, according to a report released July 30 by Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and the Episcopal Health Foundation.

In Texas, Hispanics and women showed the largest reductions in rates of uninsured since enrollment began under the Affordable Care Act, according to a new report released June 2 by the Baker Institute for Public Policy and Episcopal Health Foundation.

Although there are enormous potential benefits for Mexico's energy sector in the future, there are also important challenges the country must overcome to fully realize its energy potential. One of them has to do with the land ownership and land use regime in Mexico. As the legislative debate on the new Ley de Petróleos and the Ley de la Comisión Federal de Electricidad (Petroleum Act and Federal Electric Utility Act) proceeded in the summer of 2014, the Mexican Congress anticipated potential land-related conflicts associated with exploration and production activities related to hydrocarbons and new energy-related infrastructure projects. These potential conflicts stem from the fact that all of these projects will necessarily require the right of way to access and work on the resources in the subsoil of privately owned as well as on so-called “socially owned” lands in regions targeted for energy development. Thus, the Mexican Congress sought to avoid land-related conflicts by including language related to land ownership and use in the new energy legislation. The legislation, however, may not be able to prevent such conflicts.

This issue brief proposes a framework for awarding bids in a public tender for exploration blocks. The context for the proposal is Mexico’s energy reform of 2013-2014.

This issue brief examines the signals conveyed by Mexico's 2014 energy reforms, and analyzes the limitations in law, institutional design and policy that may delay, if not derail, the reforms' success.

Mexico's organized crime groups have expanded into areas that include the theft of crude oil, gas and gasoline. The impact of organized crime on the energy sector is a real threat to the intended effects of Mexico's energy reforms.

Mexico’s 2013–2014 energy reform promises to bring the country’s economic drivers and regulatory institutions in line with the global practices of free market democracies. If successful, this development would be a 180-degree turn. The accomplishment of such realignment is hardly assured, however.