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.
Some states still face challenges with racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 vaccine distribution, and Texas is one of them. How might we avoid these inequities in the future? The authors explain in the Baker Institute Blog.
Elena M. Marks, Varsha Varghese, Jennifer MeierMay 5, 2021
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
The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act, which became law in mid-March, left out the mandate to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour, but it did lead to an open policy discussion about current minimum wage standards. In a post for the Baker Institute Blog, public finance fellow Joyce Beebe considers some of the pros and cons of increasing the minimum wage and possible future developments.
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.
