Research Library

Mark Finley explains the cost-benefit analysis behind the Saudi government's recent move to pause plans to increase spare oil production capacity — and why spare capacity still equates to power in the oil market.

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

Despite recent claims that “free trade is dead,” fellow Simon Lester explains that America was never close to anything resembling free trade in the first place. Instead, current U.S. trade policy, just like past policy, reflects a messy mix of free market and industrial policy views.

As the U.S. doubles down on trade protectionism, it risks weakening the global trade system and harming the American businesses, workers and consumers it aims to protect.

In 2022, the nation faced fundamental questions about how we govern our economy and society — particularly how we formulate public policy. Here, we share 10 highlights of our work that illustrate our impact from the previous year.

By refusing to go along with an increased consumer subsidy fully available only for EVs and batteries produced in the U.S. with union labor, Sen. Manchin (perhaps with the assistance of Canada's government) has saved the U.S. government from what could have been a mortal blow to an integrated North American industry.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s investment policies, which aim to return Mexico to the protectionist, state-led policies of the 1960s and 1970s, seem almost certain to stagnate the country’s economy.

Many climate policy approaches place a disproportionate burden on lower-income families, writes fellow Mark Finley. Political leaders have started to recognize that climate policy must approach fossil fuels and energy transition as an “AND”, not an “either/or”, and that the distributional impact of policy must also be addressed. Read more on the Baker Institute Blog. This post originally appeared in the Forbes blog on January 26, 2022.

By subsidizing only electric vehicles and EV batteries produced by union labor in the U.S., the auto industry could face trouble in valuable trade partnerships with Canada and Mexico, writes fellow David Gantz.

In October the UAE declared a goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. That goal seems incredibly lofty for an oil-dominated economy, but the UAE's particular advantages may uniquely suit the task, energy fellow Jim Krane explains in this week's Forbes post.