Research Library

This brief explores how a quirk in the measurement of women’s labor force participation and the demographic peculiarities of the Persian Gulf have resulted in the significant undercounting of female citizen labor in the Gulf Cooperation Council. I

To either close deals or resolve disputes, parties and courts must be able to attach a credible economic value to water that may still be underground in the aquifer. In this brief, fellow Gabriel Collins proposes a means of estimating this value that opens the door for a direct comparison of the implied price paid for groundwater in a land purchase transaction and the price paid for an explicit agreement to acquire only the groundwater estate beneath a tract.

Many argue that sales and excise taxes are regressive based on the strict relationship between annual income and taxes paid, but the burden of higher sales taxes may actually fall more heavily on households with higher lifetime incomes.

The most likely future for NAFTA is neither continuity — that is off the table as per U.S. goals — nor a “modernized” agreement that the U.S. does not appear to want.

This paper examines Mexican skilled migration to Texas, particularly to Houston, and explores the factors that motivate such migrants to emigrate, whether they intend to return to Mexico permanently or remain in the U.S. and in what ways they contribute to knowledge-transfer activities between the U.S. and Mexico in health care research.

In testimony before the U.S. House Budget Committee, public finance fellow John Diamond outlines steps to reduce projected federal expenditures and reform the U.S. tax system to maximize economic growth.

Public finance fellow Joyce Beebe outlines the benefits of paid family leave for U.S. families and society in general, examines the experiences of three states with paid family leave, and presents policy issues that should be taken into consideration to successfully craft a nationwide paid family leave program.

Is President Trump's April 2017 executive order calling for a review of the H-1B visa program bad news for foreign workers?

A universally agreed-upon definition of the U.S.-Mexico border region is elusive, to say the least. The boundaries vary widely depending on the government entity or academic institution involved. This brief reviews the many officially sanctioned definitions of the region, and explains why a consensus is necessary for effective border management.

The results of a study conducted by the authors show that unconventional oil and gas development is a job creator at the state level. This document summarizes a report on these results published by Energy Economics.