Research Library

This brief explores how the emerging use of blockchain technology in financial services could transform small business lending and improve capital access for businesses excluded by conventional lending processes.

The authors point to several tangible benefits of U.S. LNG exports that go beyond its low procurement cost — including greater security of supply and emissions reductions when used as an alternative to coal.

Gabriel Collins, the Baker Botts Fellow in Energy and Environmental Regulatory Affairs, explains why Section 625 of the CLEAN Future Act — which aims to classify oilfield-produced water as a hazardous waste — would likely induce multi-system disruptions severe enough to prevent the act from achieving its climate, energy, environmental, and social objectives.

Baker Institute Rice Faculty Scholar and University Professor Moshe Vardi analyzes three recent crises — the 2021 winter storm in Texas, the COVID-19 pandemic and the Boeing 737 Max software failure — that highlight the cost of valuing efficiency over resilience and provide lessons for bringing society into balance.

The recent cyberattack on the Colonial Pipeline, one of America’s most critical pieces of energy infrastructure, offers lessons in the crucial role of energy storage and the importance of cybersecurity for maintaining our nation’s long-term energy security, writes Kenneth B. Medlock III, the senior director of the Center for Energy Studies, in a post for the Baker Institute Blog.

Some states still face challenges with racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 vaccine distribution, and Texas is one of them. How might we avoid these inequities in the future?  The authors explain in the Baker Institute Blog.

Why have consumer credit scores gone up during the pandemic?  In this brief, public finance fellow Joyce Beebe discusses the disconnect between credit scores and other economic indicators, and the public policies behind the rising scores.

Private equity investment in hospitals has grown substantially in the 21st century, and it accelerated in the years leading up the COVID-19 pandemic. In this study of short-term acute care hospitals acquired by private equity firms, the authors find they not only have higher markups and profit margins, they’re also slower to expand their staffs.

The authors identify mental health stressors and strategies for coping with distress among underserved Latino communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.