Research Library

This issue brief presents the results of a dynamic model similar in nature to the macroeconomic models used by the Congressional Budget Office and Joint Committee on Taxation in evaluating the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. The model shows a modest decline in wealth inequality due to the corporate tax cuts in the TCJA.

The authors examine the arguments for and against source-based capital income taxation, focusing on the factors that countries must balance in thinking about the extent to which they should rely on a corporate income tax as a significant source of revenue.

In February 2018, the Baker Institute, the American University of Beirut’s Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy, and the Carnegie Corporation of New York held a two-day conference in Beirut to examine critical challenges and effective policy options for fostering more inclusive and pluralistic systems in the MENA. Leading experts discussed issues such as post-conflict reconstruction and the economic, political, and socio-religious dimensions of pluralism and inclusion in the MENA. This report summarizes some of the participants' discussions and proposals.

This report analyzes the comparable transactions method for valuing groundwater, which involves examining transactions for groundwater purchases or sales to gather pricing information, and explores how this method can be applied to groundwater valuations in Texas.

Mexico’s Ministry of the Interior estimates there could be 430,000 to 600,000 children and youth who are U.S. citizens but now reside in Mexico. Without the necessary documents, they become a vulnerable population without proper access to schools or social and health services. This brief explores the issues related to this population and calls for more research to be done to understand its impact.

The outlook for the Venezuelan oil industry and the broader economic and political challenges facing the country are intrinsically linked. This report summarizes possible political and economic scenarios, as well as potential next steps for the country, discussed during a workshop convened by Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy.

Cultural myths — and by extension, the suppositions they inspire — have played a major role in shaping Venezuela's relationship with and management of oil resources throughout much of the last 100 years, writes nonresident fellow Luis Pacheco. To achieve sustainable economic and social development, Venezuela must move beyond such beliefs and establish a new approach that is more attuned to current times.

As China’s demand for light oil products continues to drive incremental consumption growth, it is becoming apparent that commodities framed as “oil products” are increasingly not actually made from crude oil. Fellow Gabriel Collins explores the possible ramifications of this situation in this issue brief. He writes that oil producers — whether in Riyadh, Moscow or the Permian Basin — should take stock of how China’s growing use of “oil products” that do not actually come from crude oil may translate into effective reductions in demand and prices for the crude oil they produce.

The Commission on Combatting Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis appointed by President Trump released its report on Monday, July 31. Drug policy fellow Katharine Neill Harris assesses the commission's recommendations in the Baker Institute Blog.

This brief quantifies the potential exposure of key European countries to Russian gas price and supply manipulation, shows how Moscow has used energy as an instrument of coercive diplomacy since the early 1990s, and briefly assesses the impacts and future policy implications of Russian entities’ past use of the “energy weapon” in and near Europe. Although it has not been widely successful to date in the former Soviet zone, Russia's use of the energy weapon against Western European countries in various forms still constitutes a strategic threat that warrants close attention from policymakers in Washington and throughout Europe, writes fellow Gabriel Collins.