Research Library

Circular economy principles are oftentimes used in conjunction or synonymously with the term “sustainability.” However, although there is a relationship between sustainability and circularity, these two concepts are very different. Energy fellow Rachel A. Meidl explains the distinction in a new post for the Baker Institute Blog.

U.S. producers have sustained oil supply by feathering their beds with “DUCs down” — their large inventory of drilled-but-uncompleted wells. Could they exhaust the DUCs? What then? Energy fellow Mark Finley explains on the Baker Institute Blog.

How did the pandemic impact energy markets around the world? The results of this year's bp Statistical Review of World Energy show how the U.S. led the widespread decline in energy production, oil was the energy type most impacted by shutdowns, and global trade for fossil fuels fell more rapidly than production.

Methane emissions are both "extraordinarily bad" and "easy to fix," so why not address them now? A federal tax of $1,500 per metric ton emitted could curb and counter the impact of U.S. methane emissions, argues this commentary piece.

The authors point to several tangible benefits of U.S. LNG exports that go beyond its low procurement cost — including greater security of supply and emissions reductions when used as an alternative to coal.

You may have read that nonfungible tokens (NFTs) have introduced an extremely lucrative way to sell digital work, like art. Beyond the question "what's an NFT?" is how the sometimes-extraordinary proceeds are taxed. Center for Public Finance fellow Joyce Beebe explains in the Baker Institute Blog.

Mexico's pivotal June 6 elections brought critical losses to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and his MORENA party. What do they mean for the Mexican people and the U.S.-Mexico relationship? Tony Payan analyzes the election outcome in this commentary.

With the rise of the gig economy has come an increase in concerns about tax compliance. This blog post reviews two recent changes to tax reporting rules for the sharing economy sector — the comeback of Form 1099-NEC and a reduction in the reporting threshold of Form 1099-K — and their implications for tax administration and reporting.

Baker Institute Rice Faculty Scholar and University Professor Moshe Vardi analyzes three recent crises — the 2021 winter storm in Texas, the COVID-19 pandemic and the Boeing 737 Max software failure — that highlight the cost of valuing efficiency over resilience and provide lessons for bringing society into balance.

The recent cyberattack on the Colonial Pipeline, one of America’s most critical pieces of energy infrastructure, offers lessons in the crucial role of energy storage and the importance of cybersecurity for maintaining our nation’s long-term energy security, writes Kenneth B. Medlock III, the senior director of the Center for Energy Studies, in a post for the Baker Institute Blog.