Research Library

The number of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border far exceeds the immigration system’s capacity, and the flow is not stopping. In this brief, visiting scholar Katia Adimora talks to experts in the field about what the real issues are and how best to solve them.

This policy report examines the push and pull factors that contribute to the formation of so-called “migrant caravans” and offers policy recommendations to staunch the flow of migrants through Mexico.

In the next year, the EPA could make a final decision on whether to classify PVC as hazardous waste. What would this entail? Fellow Rachel Meidl explores why a hazardous designation for PVC would have costly implications — moving the U.S. further from its goal of achieving a sustainable, circular economy.

Visiting scholar Osamah Alsayegh explores the water and energy challenges of GCC states and offers three key policy recommendations that could help to build the region’s resilience and sustainability.

Truth-in-taxation measures, which are intended to serve taxpayers, have failed to constrain the property tax burden in Texas, write Jennifer Rabb and Lebena Varghese of the McNair Center for Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth. They argue that it is incumbent upon the government to make tax rate notices clear, relevant and above all truthful.

Texas lawmakers must address the misuse of anticipation notes — short-term debt securities used to raise money for public projects, writes John Diamond, the Edward A. and Hermena Hancock Kelly Fellow in Public Finance. Since they don’t require voter approval, politicians could use them to fund unwanted projects, he explains.

This paper models the oil strategy of Gulf Arab states under three future energy transition scenarios. Under the most ambitious scenario, the region would have to decouple its oil revenues from its economic growth and could face significant economic and political consequences.

A number of states are moving toward accepting bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for tax payments, writes public finance fellow Joyce Beebe. She explores the challenges this may bring and why a sizable number of states are racing to be viewed as crypto-friendly.