Research Library

Center for Energy Studies senior director Ken Medlock provided an overview of trends in electricity generation by source — from coal and natural gas to wind, solar and biomass — and the role of infrastructure during testimony before the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on March 5.  Download the PDFs below to read his written testimony and the questions for the record submitted to Medlock, as well as his answers.

Fellow David Gantz examines the potential impact of changes to rules on tariffs, customs and rules of origin issues in North America under the United States-Mexico-Canada agreement. https://doi.org/10.25613/sj2a-wy96.

The authors investigate the benefits of joint investment planning for transmission lines and energy storage, finding that energy storage investments complement transmission expansion and contribute to higher social welfare values. Published by Energy Strategy Reviews: http://bit.ly/2vd2ZLA.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 placed a $10,000 limit on the amount of state and local taxes taxpayers may deduct on their federal income tax returns. In this report, public finance fellow Joyce Beebe examines the pros and cons of the limit and state-level efforts to circumvent the cap.

This report, published by UCLA and COLEF and supported by the Baker Institute Mexico Center, reviews the history of the North American Development Bank’s Community Adjustment and Investment Program; evaluates the program’s success and shortcomings; and applies lessons learned to create new jobs and inform the discussion on trade-related community adjustment policies in the context of the ongoing debate on the future of the USMCA. 

Despite the period of very low interest rates since the 2008 financial crisis, bank lending has failed to recover. In this issue brief, public finance fellow Thomas L. Hogan explores the potential causes of this post-crisis decline in bank lending.

On Sept. 13, 2018, Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and George Washington University’s Project on Middle East Political Science (POMEPS) co-hosted the conference “Building Inclusive and Pluralistic States Post-Arab Spring.” The conference was the culmination of a two-year project funded by the Carnegie Corporation and showcased research by leading scholars of the Middle East on political, economic and socio-religious inclusion in Arab states since 2011. This report addresses some of the conference’s key conclusions and policy recommendations for U.S. policymakers concerned with the future stability of the Middle East.

Fellow Joyce Beebe examines recent policies and proposals that aim to simplify the federal student loan process.

If the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) is approved, this modified and modernized version of NAFTA will govern most economic relationships in North America. David A. Gantz, the Will Clayton Fellow in Trade and International Economics, reviews the USMCA and discusses its positive and negative elements.

Measuring the costs of corruption around the world is challenging due to varying definitions of corruption, the invisibility of many corrupt acts, and the subjectivity of perceptions. In this research paper, postdoctoral research fellow Jose I. Rodriguez-Sanchez explores the difficulties of measuring corruption in Mexico.