Research Library

The authors conduct a step-by-step examination of various factors that were blamed for the extended power outage on the ERCOT electricity grid in February 2021. While no single factor fully explains the calamity, the bureaucratic failure in identifying and addressing risks along fuel supply chains was a major failure. Most proposed remedies do not fundamentally address what occurred. The authors make several recommendations, some of which have already been implemented.

Joe Barnes considers the origins and implications of the ongoing crisis over Ukraine in a post for the Baker Institute Blog.

What should businesses and investors know to successfully navigate Mexico's economic, social and political landscape in 2022? The Center for the United States and Mexico answered this question at an exclusive virtual conference on possible responses to Mexico’s myriad challenges. Download the supporting report, below.

The authors take a realistic look at what's needed for the global energy transition to succeed and warn that moving away from fossil fuels too quickly could backfire — stranding climate progress in the so-called “valley of death.”

The authors examine how vertical market structures impact the way a tax affects gas prices, using data from gas station contracts with a major Spanish refiner. Find the article in The Economic Journal.

Whereas the process for Canada, Mexico and the U.S. to resolve disputes under NAFTA proved highly ineffective, the equivalent procedures under the USMCA are working very well, explains David Gantz. Read his post on the Baker Institute Blog.

Many climate policy approaches place a disproportionate burden on lower-income families, writes fellow Mark Finley. Political leaders have started to recognize that climate policy must approach fossil fuels and energy transition as an “AND”, not an “either/or”, and that the distributional impact of policy must also be addressed. Read more on the Baker Institute Blog. This post originally appeared in the Forbes blog on January 26, 2022.

The dramatic electoral defeat of Morocco’s Islamist PJD party last fall signaled a major shift in the region’s politics: Islamist parties have become politically vulnerable and must deliver results or face the wrath of voters.

"With the pressures of climate change and the urgency to incorporate alternative energy resources like wind and solar, the fixation on the purported benefits of energy transition technologies overshadows the glaring reality — an absence of strategy around identifying and quantifying other life cycle externalities, such as waste disposal or environmental impacts," write fellow Rachel Meidl and research assistant Mathilde Saada. Read more on the Baker Institute Blog.