Research Library

Blockchain technology is giving rise to a new global system that offers great promise for entrepreneurs and small businesses — but its potential will be stymied if government regulation hinders rather than embraces the transparency and democratization the technology offers, writes the author in this working paper.

The author reviews recent developments in organized retail crime, as well as federal and state policy responses. Read the post on the Baker Institute Blog.

What would happen if Russian gas stopped flowing to Europe? After recent gas cutoffs to Poland and Bulgaria, other countries’ decision on gas imports from Russia need to represent a definitive, unifying statement that time for Russian dominance over EU gas imports is over, write the authors. Read the post on the Baker Institute Blog.  This article originally appeared in the Forbes blog on May 3, 2022.

Last week, the Joe Biden administration released a long-awaited executive order containing a government-wide outline for digital assets, focusing on cryptocurrency. The guidance is a welcome and timely development for both regulators and investors.

The authors review the impact of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a government initiative that allowed small businesses to apply for low-interest loans during the COVID-19 pandemic. While the PPP helped cover employment-related expenses and mitigated unemployment for some businesses, it remained inaccessible to others, they conclude.

The authors write that enormous volumes of “energy transition waste” — waste from wind turbines, solar panels, lithium-ion batteries, etc. — are anticipated in the coming decades. To cope with this waste and ensure a sustainable energy transition, they call for more data, planning and coordination across the entire global supply chain, in addition to waste management and recycling policies that align with environmental and sustainability goals.

Although once known for its robust urea and ammonia production capabilities, Mexico found itself particularly vulnerable to soaring international fertilizer prices in 2021. With the global circumstances surrounding the spike in prices likely to linger through 2022, and Mexico's state-owned infrastructure still hampered by technical issues, the impact could be borne all the way to dinner tables in the form of higher nutrient prices for local farmers and food inflation.

Introduction

The major drivers of Mexico’s outlook in 2022 will be 1) growing political polarization and social conflict…

The authors take a realistic look at what's needed for the global energy transition to succeed and warn that moving away from fossil fuels too quickly could backfire — stranding climate progress in the so-called “valley of death.”