Research Library

This paper reports the key climate change and public policy issues addressed by guest speakers during the 2014-15 Climate Lecture Series hosted by the Center for Energy Studies.

This paper reviews the literature on asthma management programs for children and discusses the implications and recommendations for asthma management programs, future research and policy development.

Asthma in children costs an estimated $27 billion annually for doctor visits, emergency department visits and hospitalizations. Not surprisingly, kids with asthma miss more days of school and do worse academically. The first step to the management and treatment of asthma is access to a primary care provider who can prescribe the necessary medications and develop an asthma action plan. However, if we want to have a significant impact on the negative consequences of this disease on our children, a multi-faceted approach that includes policy is an absolute must.

With two corporate groups dominating Mexico's television sector, the country’s 2014 telecommunications reform established constitutional “must carry” and “must offer” (MC/MO) regulations. These regulations mandate that free-to-air broadcasters must allow pay TV companies to retransmit in the same coverage area without payment (must offer) and that pay TV companies must provide audiences with these free-to-air broadcasts without passing fees along to subscribers (must carry). While the reform legislation places rhetorical importance on promoting culturally diverse and pluralistic content for all broadcast audiences, there is little substantive commitment to these ideals. The Mexican variation of MC/MO is an ad hoc policy with many flaws. Ultimately, the Supreme Court will determine the future of MC/MO in Mexico. Given the reform’s legal framework, however, content diversity and pluralism will not be enhanced by MC/MO in Mexico.

This paper investigates how new potential and proposed regulations will influence the natural gas market in the United States in the coming decades, using the Rice World Gas Trade Model (RWGTM) to examine scenarios in which domestic natural gas development is stressed in a variety of ways. It considers a range of possible policy actions from the federal to the local level.

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.

This research discerns how municipal solid waste (MSW) composition influences the heating value and air pollution for the co-combustion of coal with MSW using five MSW composition scenarios, four of which were derived by a reduction of plastics, organics, paper, or a combination thereof, as compared to the national average MSW composition.

A paper that briefly examines the current situation and outlook for
 shale gas in China, and explores existing and potential 
avenues for international cooperation. Published by the International Shale Gas and Oil Journal Subscription required.

This testimony was delivered before the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on February 12, 2013.

 

…

Testimony of Kenneth B. Medlock III James A. Baker, III, and Susan G. Baker Fellow in Energy and Resource Economics, and Senior Director, Center for Energy Studies James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy Rice University To the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Washington, D.C. February 12, 2013