A number of states are moving toward accepting bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for tax payments, writes public finance fellow Joyce Beebe. She explores the challenges this may bring and why a sizable number of states are racing to be viewed as crypto-friendly.

China’s dominance over the supply of rare earths — which are critical for energy transition and defense technologies — should spur U.S. policymakers to bolster raw materials supply chains, write energy fellow Michelle Michot Foss and co-author Jacob Koelsch.

This brief reviews the factors that distinguish a “hobby” from a “business” in the eyes of the IRS as well as associated requirements, common misapplications of regulations and the factors that go into a determination between the two.

Why does Texas have its own power grid, and how can its history inform the future of electric power in the state? Nonresident scholar Julie Cohn looks beyond the mythology surrounding the standalone Texas grid and finds that reliability and economics — not politics — were the major factors leading to isolation.

How durable is the Saudi-Russian relationship, and what are its implications for the longstanding energy-for-security arrangement between Saudi Arabia and the U.S.?

Texas has long been an economic leader, but the state lags critically in a major area: health. A new report by M.D. candidate Kushal T. Kadakia and nonresident scholar Anaeze C. Offodile II offers a road map for improving Texas’ health rankings by 10 spots in 10 years.

Political, market and geopolitical headwinds have slowed down Biden’s ambitious climate plans, write energy experts Anna Mikulska and Michael Maher. In this brief, they explore why progress on decarbonization is likely to be more gradual than initially envisioned.

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The protection of critical infrastructure (water, energy, food supply, healthcare etc.) from cyberattack has…

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.

A new Senate bill "declares a position on most of the unclear yet critical issues" in regulating cryptocurrency, the author writes, on which industry participants have been requesting guidance for years. What are the key provisions in this bipartisan proposal? Read the post on the Baker Institute Blog.