Fossil fuel subsidies have allowed energy exporting countries to distribute resource revenue, bolstering legitimacy for governments, many of which are not democratically elected. But subsidy benefits are dwarfed by the harmful consequences of encouraging uneconomic use of energy. Now, with consumption posing a threat to long-term exports, governments face a heightened need to raise prices that have come to be viewed as entitlements. While reforms of state benefits are notoriously politically dangerous, previous experience shows that subsidies can be rolled back without undermining government legitimacy — even in autocratic settings — given proper preparation.

The violent struggle between rival Mexican drug cartels and other criminal groups has left tens of thousands dead and towns across Mexico paralyzed with fear. With overwhelmed police forces relatively powerless to control drug-related murders and kidnappings, a growing number of vigilante organizations, or self-defense groups, aim to restore order — but now even they are fighting, and killing, among themselves.

Kenneth B. Medlock III, James A. Baker, III, and Susan G. Baker Fellow in Energy and Resource Economics, testified about crude oil production and energy trade policy before the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the U.S. House of Representatives.

There is a curious imbalance in energy markets in the Persian Gulf region: Five of the six Gulf monarchies exhibit shortages in domestic supply of natural gas. Meanwhile, Qatar holds the world's third-largest conventional reserves and is the world's No. 2 gas exporter. Why is Qatar, given its enormous resources and relatively small domestic needs, unwilling to supply gas sufficient to meet its neighbors' demand?

A proposed inflation targeting (IT) approach to monetary policy has generated vigorous debate in India, where inflation has not dropped much below 10 percent for the past eight years.

Information technology policy fellow Chris Bronk writes that cybersecurity threats to the U.S. energy industry and infrastructure are rising and require increased preparedness by the U.S. Army and Department of Defense.

The tainted legacy of uranium mining on the coastal plains of Texas.

Under this study, the Baker Institute will embark on a comprehensive study on the interaction of the oil investment cycle and the general business cycle, including consideration of how the global economy and patterns of industry capital investment are influenced by oil price shocks.

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Abstract

The global "great recession" was…

A working paper that reveals some of the possible new directions in U.S. NGLs and their future use in world markets. By Al Troner, president of Asia Pacific Energy Consulting.