Research Library

Texas lawmakers must address the misuse of anticipation notes — short-term debt securities used to raise money for public projects, writes John Diamond, the Edward A. and Hermena Hancock Kelly Fellow in Public Finance. Since they don’t require voter approval, politicians could use them to fund unwanted projects, he explains.

In 2022, the nation faced fundamental questions about how we govern our economy and society — particularly how we formulate public policy. Here, we share 10 highlights of our work that illustrate our impact from the previous year.

Three key Texas runoffs in the Texas Democratic congressional primaries demonstrate the ongoing battles between establishment and progressive wings of the Democratic party, writes the author, and the outcomes will either enhance or undermine Democratic efforts to retain control of the U.S. House in the 2022 midterms. Read his opinion on the Baker Institute Blog.  This opinion originally appeared in The Hill on May 24, 2022.

By subsidizing only electric vehicles and EV batteries produced by union labor in the U.S., the auto industry could face trouble in valuable trade partnerships with Canada and Mexico, writes fellow David Gantz.

In 1980, the Mariel Boatlift brought not only tens of thousands of political refugees from Cuba to Florida, but a significant number of criminals, leading to soaring murder and crime rates in the U.S. With Mexico now planning the release of potentially thousands of federal prisoners, is history set to repeat itself?

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.

Texans served by regulated electricity markets, especially by electric cooperatives, were much more satisfied with their providers’ performance during Winter Storm Uri than those in deregulated markets. In this post for the Baker Institute Blog, the authors offer possible explanations for the contrast in favorability.