Research Library

After Winter Storm Uri left millions of Texans without power in February 2021, what steps have been taken to improve the reliability of the Texas grid? This workshop summary from the Baker Institute Center for Energy Studies explores long-term market design reforms that could make a difference.

Expanding current non-immigrant work permit categories through minimal adjustments is a way to move forward on immigration reform — one that recognizes the undocumented community for its valuable contributions, writes expert Catherine Glazer in a new policy brief for the Center for the United States and Mexico.

With Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador pushing for the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) to replace the Organization of American States (OAS), which the U.S. currently dominates, the future of security relations in the Western Hemisphere is in question. This paper assesses four possible future scenarios and offers policy recommendations for a reimagined OAS.

With its significant reserves of critical metals and other geographic advantages, Chile is well positioned to help enable the energy transition. The authors discuss the country's leveraging of its copper and lithium resources and its growing trade with China.

If the U.S. is to create a resilient energy supply chain and securitize its own needs for the energy transition, it should be more proactive in resource and supply chain development in Latin America. The author explains why.

This report traces the winding road of Mexico’s renewable energy policies and their uncertain future.

The author analyzes the challenges Mexico’s 2013 energy reforms pose to the current administration, as well as the limitations the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement imposes on changes in Mexico’s energy policies.

By Paul Lagunes, Baker Institute for Public Policy; Xiaoxuan Yang, Columbia University; and Andrés Castro, Columbia University. Corruption is a persistent problem throughout Latin America. Higher rates of perceived corruption are associated with lower levels of economic welfare and direct foreign investment, write the authors.

The author reviews the evolution of labor and environmental rights in U.S. free trade agreements and evaluates such provisions in the USMCA.

By Sonia Laszlo, Farhan Majid and Laëtitia Renée The authors explore the impact of Peru’s conditional cash transfer program, Juntos, on beneficiaries’ reproductive choices and find intra-household variation in decision-making: https://bit.ly/2YDYuX1