Research Library

A substantial number of Americans remain unprepared for retirement, despite past policy support and tax incentives to enhance retirement income security. Public finance fellow Joyce Beebe reviews recent policy developments and proposals to enhance the retirement savings system.

In this paper, the author examines past attempts at immigration reform in the United States, especially as they pertain to the nation’s undocumented population. Analyzing these early reform efforts could be deeply instructive for the prospects of President Biden’s U.S. Citizenship Act and reveals both durable patterns and new developments that could shape the chances for legislative breakthroughs.

David A. Gantz, the Will Clayton Fellow in Trade and International Economics, analyzes a wide range of factors — including the U.S.-China trade war, the entry into force of the United States Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA) and the COVID-19 pandemic — that are all contributing to the pressure on the U.S. to decouple from China and to shift supply chains back to North America.

With opposition to large-scale energy infrastructure on the rise, transmission service providers find it problematic to build the new power lines essential to a greener grid. This paper highlights the Texas Competitive Renewable Energy Zone initiative (CREZ) — a case study of the difficulties that new power lines face and the policy choices that can facilitate development of this necessary infrastructure. The CREZ experience can inform development of new large-scale transmission infrastructure in other regions.

The authors offer strategies to counter an increasingly aggressive China and to position the Indo-Asia-Pacific for continued prosperity and growth under a rules-based regional system. Their recommendations comprise a dynamic blend of diplomatic, information, military and economic action.

The authors compare the impacts of energy-related sanctions against Russia and a market-based geoeconomics policy, and suggest options for U.S. involvement in the region.

In this paper, authors examine the concerns raised by a new wealth tax and analyze the economic effects of the tax using a computable general equilibrium model.

When states report an increase in Covid-19 cases, Google searches for mental health-related issues also increase, often significantly, the authors find. Their analysis of Google trends data, which is posted in Advance Social Science and Humanities, recommends that policymakers prepare for greater mental health needs in the event a predicted resurgence of Covid-19 becomes a reality.

This paper contends that it is worth evaluating which state-owned petrochemical assets in Mexico could be strengthened to support both economic recovery and President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s agenda.

José Iván Rodríguez-Sánchez conducts a cost-benefit analysis of undocumented immigrants in Texas, concluding that undocumented residents have a positive influence and impact on the economy, since they pay taxes and fees and constitute an important part of the labor market.