Since the first quarter of 2014, Brazil has been living in crisis mode as the result of a severe economic crisis in conjunction with an investigation into widespread corruption that has penetrated the highest offices in the government. Although the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff in 2016 did offer some hope for recovery, recent events demonstrate that Brazil's troubles are still ongoing. Contributing expert Sergio Fausto analyzes the main factors leading to this crisis and surveys the current economic and political situation.
Under long-established Texas law, the surface estate owner clearly owns oilfield produced water. However, the law does not address how, if at all, the producer would need to split revenues with the surface owner for a sale or a for-value transfer of produced water. Fellow Gabe Collins analyzes the ambiguity related to revenues from this commodity and discusses potential transaction structures for produced water in Texas.
Texans are likely to pay more at freestanding emergency departments than at hospital-based emergency departments or urgent care centers, according to a study co-authored by Vivian Ho, the James A. Baker III Institute Chair in Health Economics and director of the Center for Health and Biosciences.
Do laws in the Middle East adequately protect women against domestic violence? The author examines the positions of two highly visible Islamist parties — Al-Nahda in Tunisia and the Justice and Development Party in Morocco — on the criminalization of spousal abuse.
This paper analyzes the possible impact of Mexico’s energy reform on the country’s environment, as well as the challenges to preserving natural resources and access to water while also supporting the expanding oil and gas sector.
As a result of the 2013 energy reform, oil and gas companies completing projects in Mexico must now meet mandatory requirements to utilize local goods and services suppliers.
The authors analyze the legislative framework in place to enforce the local content requirement and the economic implications of the policy.
The author analyzes the major claims and implications of the Surgeon General's report "Facing Addiction in America," and proposes additional drug policy considerations for addressing substance use disorders.
This paper explores the constitutional and legal standards regarding oversight systems related to accountability, transparency and responsibility within the scope of the energy reform in Mexico. It analyzes these regulatory structures and assesses whether the procedures satisfy the constitutional principles that the energy reform establishes for the petroleum sector. It also identifies challenges and opportunities for improvement presented by the legislation.
Ambassador Edward P. Djerejian, director of the Baker Institute, makes the case for a comprehensive North American strategy in which the U.S., Mexico and Canada act in concert to become the global superpower of the 21st century.
The winner’s curse — overestimating the value of an asset and therefore overpaying — is often associated with acquisitions of publicly-traded firms but not with private acquisitions. Using an event study methodology for over 22,000 private acquisitions of U.S. firms between 1985 and 2015, the authors examine a possible winner’s curse for such acquisitions, testing variables to determine what characteristics make a private company more likely to overestimate the asset's value.
