Research Library

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.

Decentralized finance is charting a path toward increased transparency and efficiency in the financial services sector. But do the benefits outweigh the risks?

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.?

The authors evaluate the global oil market's ability to deal with a disruption of Russian production and exports after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

In this series of papers, the authors argue that Texas has a comparative advantage when it comes to implementing CCUS technologies, given the volume of CO2 emissions from industrial activity, the amount of oil and gas production, the scale of geologic storage potential, and the breadth of engineering and subsurface expertise in the state. Lawmakers and regulators can help facilitate the development of a robust CCUS industry in the state by addressing existing legal and regulatory uncertainties and by carefully considering pathways that can establish Texas as a leader in a low carbon energy future.

Understanding the strategic and tactical considerations of Saudi Arabia will be the key factor for the success of U.S. policy in the wake of the oil price crash and Covid-19 outbreak.

The author gives an overview of the USMCA's implications for Mexico, finding that while challenges remain for the U.S.-Mexico relationship, the possibility of the trade agreement going into effect by 2020 should greatly reduce uncertainties about the future of North American trade.

In separate papers, two Baker Institute fellows — one Palestinian, the other Israeli — provide their perspectives on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Measuring the costs of corruption around the world is challenging due to varying definitions of corruption, the invisibility of many corrupt acts, and the subjectivity of perceptions. In this research paper, postdoctoral research fellow Jose I. Rodriguez-Sanchez explores the difficulties of measuring corruption in Mexico.