Research Library

President López Obrador was skeptical of the coronavirus threat and ignored the recommendations of his own health experts. He downplayed the crisis and relied on his intuition instead of science, with disastrous results. He will be even more distracted in the coming months as he campaigns for re-election.

Rather than offer a forecast that may overstate or understate Covid-19's impact on the U.S. and global economy, the authors highlight what to look for as the pandemic progresses, recedes or oscillates.

Energy fellow Michelle Michot Foss interviews Bernard Duroc-Danner, the former CEO of EVI, Grant Prideco & Weatherford, to explore the strategic shifts for businesses in the oilfield services (OFS) industry and to address how the OFS industry must restructure itself.

Leveraging a crash in oil revenue, the Saudi government has quickly imposed unprecedented changes to the way it raises cash by increasing taxes and slashing subsidies in ways Saudi citizens once considered unthinkable.

The Covid-19 pandemic may spur a period of "economic Darwinism," finishing off weak businesses and favoring wealthy nations, write the authors.

The populist government under President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has largely discounted the threat of COVID-19,  and the true extent of the outbreak Mexico may not yet be known. If conditions significantly change for the worse, the president faces not only a public health crisis but also the possible undoing of the country's populist experiment.

Coronavirus cases in Texas may grow as the state expands COVID-19 screening and the consequences of delayed decisions to limit public interactions set in. "No one should be surprised lim or panic as the figures roll out," write the authors in the Baker Institute Blog.

In the second of a series of blogs on the coronovirus outbreak, the authors sound a note of cautious optimism: "We hope for a relatively optimistic outlook for the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, with the quick realization of all modifying interventions: earlier and broader testing, strict preventive hygienic and societal measures, a safe and effective vaccine, and effective therapies to treat the virus."  Read more at the Baker Institute Blog.

As the number of coronavirus cases rises in Iran, nearby countries are scrambling to prevent the disease from spreading across borders. Read more at the Baker Institute Blog.