Research Library

With the rise of online trading and over 10 million new retail brokerage accounts added in 2020, are new traders ready for the associated capital gains tax rules? Public finance fellow Joyce Beebe explains some key tax considerations on the Baker Institute Blog: bit.ly/3vDeXfD

Jim Blackburn, co-director of Rice’s SSPEED Center and a Baker Institute Rice faculty scholar, examines what the city of Houston has done to prepare for flooding and other extreme weather events brought about by climate change since Hurricane Harvey struck Houston more than three years ago.

Electricity is the new oil when it comes to energy security, writes Mark Finley, fellow in energy and global oil. The immediacy of power outages and the ubiquity of critical elements of modern life powered by electricity mean the impact of oil supply disruptions are a walk in the park compared to our power vulnerabilities.

In this brief, public finance fellow Jorge Barro explains some of the long-term economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and argues that policymakers can prepare for the impending macroeconomic shortfalls by maintaining a commitment to improving education, prioritizing immigration and resolving fiscal imbalances.

Carbon nanotubes are critical components for future decarbonization strategies and a clean energy revolution. If the U.S. is to reestablish climate leadership, advanced nanotechnology solutions must be a national priority, argues the author.

Sanctions against Venezuela have reduced PDVSA and the Maduro regime's revenues, but they have failed to lead to a path toward democracy or avert Venezuela’s economic and humanitarian collapse. The authors offer policy options for the Biden administration's consideration.

In the transition to a renewable energy future, we must invest in a new transmission infrastructure – some crossing state borders – that connects intermittent power, traditional power and users, write Center for Energy Studies experts.

Lax regulation exposed electricity producers — and their customers — to failures that killed off all four of Texas’ top generating types: natural gas, wind, coal and nuclear. In this commentary experts from the Center for Energy Studies look at each technology to show what failed.

The author draws links between pandemics, the economy, nature and energy, showing that policies reducing the probability of future pandemics are a solid investment.

U.S. backing of key gas infrastructure projects in Central and Eastern Europe can foster deeper market liberalization, the authors write, and make European partners more resilient against Russian energy coercion.