Research Library

This report uses data to examine venture capital investment in the United States for 2016 and generate a ranking for the top 100 U.S. startup cities in 2016. The overall rankings are based on equally weighting the amount growth venture capital invested, the number of new venture capital deals, and the number of active VC-backed startups in each city.

Recent academic research has shown that startup training institutions can greatly increase the number of startup firms receiving seed and early-stage venture capital for the first time. In this paper, the authors examine the startup training institutions in Houston, and what they are doing to open up the city’s pipeline of startups.

The high-growth, high-tech sector appears poised to dramatically grow. U.S. policy to support this sector could enhance and hasten its rise, or could destroy a new American dream.

Since early 2014, Brazil has been in the midst of a political and economic crisis characterized by the impeachment of former President Dilma Rousseff, steadily worsening economic conditions, and an investigation into widespread corruption within the government and Petrobras, the state-owned oil company. Experts from the Latin America Initiative analyze different aspects of the current situation in the issue briefs listed below.

Since the first quarter of 2014, Brazil has been living in crisis mode as the result of a severe economic crisis in conjunction with an investigation into widespread corruption that has penetrated the highest offices in the government. Although the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff in 2016 did offer some hope for recovery, recent events demonstrate that Brazil's troubles are still ongoing. Contributing expert Sergio Fausto analyzes the main factors leading to this crisis and surveys the current economic and political situation.

This paper examines the cash flow and financial issues affecting Venezuela’s PDVSA, as well as the operational challenges facing the country’s oil industry.

Fellow Ed Egan examines the outlook for high-growth, high-technology entrepreneurship in Texas for a House committee on investment and financial services.

Just a decade ago, Texas’ venture capital investment was the third largest in the United States. Today, it has fallen to fourth and is set to slide to sixth, likely before 2016 is out.

An investment strategy that generates financial returns while directing funds to entities providing goods and services to the poor is making headway in Latin America.

The only women elected to Bahrain’s new parliament are all Shi’a. While the Shi’a community in Bahrain is often considered to be economically and politically marginalized from the regime, the winning female candidates are wealthy and linked professionally with the regime.