Research Library

Why did Mexico’s state-owned PEMEX buy a Houston-area oil refinery this week, when many other oil companies are moving away from fossil fuels? Post-doctoral energy fellow Adrian Duhalt explains in the Baker Institute Blog.

Texans served by regulated electricity markets, especially by electric cooperatives, were much more satisfied with their providers’ performance during Winter Storm Uri than those in deregulated markets. In this post for the Baker Institute Blog, the authors offer possible explanations for the contrast in favorability.

The May 3 subway collapse in Mexico City highlights the ongoing institutional weakness and corruption of the current administration, with deadly results for the country’s citizens. Read more at the Baker Institute Blog.

Special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) have experienced a massive surge in popularity over the last year. How do SPACs work, and what are some of the tax implications that investors may overlook? Public finance fellow Joyce Beebe explains on the Baker Institute Blog: https://bit.ly/3t5eMH8

2021 changes to Mexico’s Hydrocarbon Law are expressions of state power through legal reforms, and are exceptionally alarming. Nonresident scholar Miriam Grunstein explains in the Baker Institute Blog.

Despite the demand for policies that mitigate the impact of severe weather, a majority of Texans seem opposed to one that requires consumers to pay for reserve electrical generation capacity.

The U.S. oil, gas and coal industry largely rose and fell based on global economic and energy market conditions rather than federal energy and environmental policies implemented by the Trump administration, write the authors. As the world recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, they expect markets to continue to shape the future of the oil and gas industry. Read more on the Baker Institute Blog.

Scenes of insurrectionists rummaging through offices and computers in the Capitol highlight the urgent need for Congress to up its IT security game. The authors recommend steps to adopt modern IT management and cybersecurity processes that are already used throughout the federal government.

Ten months after the pandemic began, partisan division is severely inhibiting the United States’ COVID-19 response. The health consequences of the continued political divide could not be clearer, as the pandemic has grown beyond many experts’ worst predictions.

When President-elect Joe Biden assumes office in January, he will be compelled to deal with the most important and ferociously complicated geopolitical question the United States faces today: how to manage its relations with China. Fellow Joe Barnes explains how the U.S.-China situation differs from the Cold War dynamic, and how the U.S. will best be served in the years ahead. Read more at the Baker Institute Blog.