Research Library

This issue brief examines how produced water recycling in Texas oilfields threatens landowners’ ability to earn revenue from selling frac water and disposal services, a more lucrative revenue stream compared to raising cattle.

This paper addresses the role of both the private sector and the public sector in altering Houston’s current situation relative to flooding.

In early 2017, Mayor Sylvester Turner appointed Baker Institute fellow Quianta Moore to his newly created Task Force on Equity, which was charged with developing actionable policy recommendations to make Houston a more equitable place to live.

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 unfettered development of Houston's flood-prone areas undoubtedly magnified the tremendous damage caused by Hurricane Harvey, but zoning or other land use controls are unpopular on the Texas coast and are unlikely to be adopted as a result. With this in mind, the SSPEED Center at Rice University looked to innovation and the market system to find a creative solution to protect important natural, flood-prone areas from further development. 

Faculty scholar Jim Blackburn proposes a series of realistic ideas that can substantially reduce misery and damage the next time a catastrophic storm like Harvey tears through the Houston-Galveston area. 

Mexico Center director Tony Payan weighs in on President Trump's decision to end DACA: http://bit.ly/2wDU1Zm

This paper assesses the current operational conditions of the Mexican residential electricity sector and examines the potential effects that the massive adoption of distributed photovoltaic power generation (DPV) systems would have on household expenditure and welfare, subsidy reduction, pollution and water resource usage.

The author assesses the impact of inequality in Latin America and the methods used to measure it. 

A combination of factors is encouraging Saudi Arabia to consider raising crude oil production capacity beyond the current ceiling of 12.5 million barrels per day. However, an increase in Saudi crude oil production would have consequences for markets and competing forms of energy, as well as for the kingdom's geopolitical stature, writes fellow Jim Krane in an article for Energy Policy.