Research Library

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.

On August 31, 2021, Energy Dialogues and the Center for Energy Studies hosted the Houston Energy Dialogues for the fifth consecutive year. Co-sponsors of this event were Sempra LNG, Schlumberger and Validere. As in previous years, the dialogues provided a platform for in-depth conversations about the energy industry involving representatives from government, industry, academia, environmental groups and regulatory bodies. Resiliency was a central theme. This report summarizes the day's discussions.

This report finds that less than half of Texas hospitals are complying with federal price transparency regulations, despite a measure passed by the state Legislature intended to increase the financial penalty for noncompliance.

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.

Input from the public is particularly important when developing science policies that involve controversial and morally complex issues, the authors write.

As the pandemic persisted across the state, did Texans living in cities have better access to Covid-19 vaccines than those in rural areas? How did race or age factor in? The authors assess the successes and shortfalls of Texas' vaccine distribution strategy, and how to do better next time.

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.

In this paper, the authors seek to quantify the potential energy security consequences of a significant disruption of gas supplies from Russia to Europe, and objectively assess strengths, weaknesses, and consequences of potential response strategies.

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.”