Research Library

Social media influencers can earn hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars each year. But how do they get taxed? In this issue brief, public finance fellow Joyce Beebe explains what tax rules apply to influencers and how tax authorities can improve tax compliance.

Europe’s reliance on fuel-switching and demand-rationing — and its need for new natural gas supply sources — will persist through this winter into next year. Using a newly developed interactive dashboard, Center for Energy Studies experts analyze possible winter scenarios using Germany as a case study.

The U.S. is facing an acute semiconductor shortage, exacerbated by pandemic-related disruptions to global supply chains, writes fellow Joyce Beebe. In this brief, she analyzes two federal proposals that seek to expand U.S. semiconductor manufacturing and weighs the pros and cons of including tax incentives in any final bill.

With its significant reserves of critical metals and other geographic advantages, Chile is well positioned to help enable the energy transition. The authors discuss the country's leveraging of its copper and lithium resources and its growing trade with China.

This brief lays out why COVID-related travel restrictions should be lifted at U.S.-Mexico land ports of entry, and recommends how to do it.

As the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 approaches, fellow George W.S. Abbey, former director of the Johnson Space Center, traces America's race to the moon — and describes what it took to be the first ones there.

Energy fellow Rachel A. Meidl examines federal and international efforts to assess the safe transport of crude oil by rail and to specifically consider the roles of vapor pressure and volatility in accident scenarios.

In June 2018, Saudi Arabia finally put an end to its legal ban on women driving, opening the way for millions of new drivers to navigate across a country three times bigger than Texas. While the long-overdue policy shift provides relief to women who lacked freedom of mobility, the onset of so many new drivers has enormous consequences for transportation and the energy sector, as well as labor market participation and public health.

Nonresident scholar Elizabeth Salamanca provides an overview of the main types of visas obtained by highly skilled migrants, and how each visa category could potentially change under the Trump administration.

Ennahdha, a political party of Muslim democrats, is a major force in Tunisia's emergence as a democracy. The author explains why a viable Islamic rival has not appeared and explores the implications for Tunisia should one emerge.