Research Library

Is President Trump's April 2017 executive order calling for a review of the H-1B visa program bad news for foreign workers?

Brazil's economy is among those most closed to foreign trade. Debate on trade policy has returned to the political agenda, but domestic and international circumstances do not currently favor reform. This brief discusses the outlook for trade policy reform in Brazil during President Michel Temer's term and the challenges that will be faced by any succeeding government.

Fellow Joe Barnes looks back, and ahead, at the impact of President Obama's foreign policies.

This issue brief examines the various foreign policy strategies advanced by Worker’s Party-led administrations in Brazil since 2003. The brief also analyzes the current political and economic crises that have increased strain on the party’s leaders.

Is the U.S. better off linking its money supply to a global commodity market or allowing an independent central bank to respond to economic conditions?

Pedro da Motta Veiga, nonresident fellow for the Latin America Initiative, and Sandra Polónia Rios, director of the Centro de Estudos de Integração e Desenvolvimento, discuss the shift away from protectionism in Brazil's trade negotiations.

As the BRICS hold their seventh summit in Ufa, Russia this week, international economics fellow Russell Green and Rice student Elisabeth Kalomeris offer advice on designing the framework for the organization’s New Development Bank.

This issue brief explores the relationship between the opening of Mexico’s energy sector and the future of the country’s automotive industry.

As Congress resumes work this spring on a bill granting Trade Promotion Authority to President Obama for completion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, many members have sought inclusion of a chapter on currency manipulation. Currency manipulation is a legitimate concern. However, countermeasures require clear, objective identification of currency manipulation. Both the IMF and the U.S. Treasury Department have mandates to identify currency manipulation, yet neither has done so in the past 20 years. If it can be done, why has it not happened more often? In this issue brief, Russell Green, Will Clayton Fellow in International Economics, reviews the difficulties of operationalizing a currency manipulation chapter and argues that the difficulty of identifying currency manipulation suggests serious political obstacles to implementation.

South America is likely facing a "second wave" of Chinese investment. How will China's rise to global economic power — and its transition to a new economic growth model — impact South America?