Research Library

Fellow Joyce Beebe evaluates a provision of the newly passed SECURE Act, which offers an option for penalty-free withdrawal from IRAs and 401(k)s for new parents. She also discusses Congress’s recent decision to grant 2.1 million federal workers up to 12 weeks paid parental leave. Baker Institute Blog: http://bit.ly/2RZIIUJ

This article reviews certain elements of employee retirement plans and their tax implications, as well as the often-overlooked component of employer matching. Read more on the Baker Institute Blog: http://bit.ly/36T9sft

Given the uncertainty surrounding the economic effects and the poorly targeted benefits and burdens of a minimum wage, it is unlikely to be the best policy to increase the wages of low-wage workers. Fellow John Diamond explains in the Baker Institute Blog

Policymakers have only begun to take steps to manage the tax-related issues arising from the sharing economy, not to mention the social, commercial and legal challenges it has generated. Baker Institute Blog: https://bit.ly/2O0VOlN

As the UK digests the domestic implications of the Leave vote, middle class voters across the world's most advanced economies have awoken to three flaws in the standard case for further global integration.

Though drops in oil prices stand to impact Saudi Arabia’s economic stability, the government has turned to drawing down its foreign reserves and issuing bonds to alleviate budgetary pressures and avoid drastic domestic spending cuts. Fellow for the Middle East Kristian Coates Ulrichsen writes in the Baker Institute Blog: http://bit.ly/1fKLWG9.

In this commentary, the authors examine the roots of the United States’ reluctance to embrace universal health care, concluding that it "is neither sound nor ethical in a nation that promulgates fairness and equal opportunity" to deny coverage.

If past trends hold for Annise Parker’s successor, this fall Houstonians may well be in actuality electing the person who will guide the city until January 2022.