Expert Alerts

Should digital advertisers be taxed on the data they collect from us?

Is it legal — or even appropriate — for governments to tax digital advertisers on the user data collected from consumers? That’s one of the many questions public policy makers must grapple with as they look for new ways to collect taxes from the digital economy, according to a new policy brief from Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.

After hurricanes, what makes people decide to stay or to go?

Rice U. expert available to discuss cryptocurrency taxes

HOUSTON – (Sept. 13, 2021) – Cryptocurrency — an estimated $2 trillion market — has created an estimated $1 trillion tax gap and become too big to avoid regulatory oversight, according to a new blog post from an expert at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy.

How can Uncle Sam tax cryptocurrency?

Cryptocurrency — an estimated $2 trillion market — has created an estimated $1 trillion tax gap and become too big to avoid regulatory oversight, according to a new blog post from Joyce Beebe, fellow in public finance at Rice's Baker Institute for Public Policy.

Climate progress requires competition, not cooperation, with China

HOUSTON – (Sept. 8, 2021) – Global climate progress requires fundamentally altering the economic bottom line that’s the foundation of the Chinese Communist Party’s power– and it will come through competition, not cooperation, according to experts at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and the U.S. Naval War College.

Biden continues Trump’s ‘benign neglect’ of USMCA

HOUSTON – (Sept. 7, 2021) – Mexican officials are right to worry that the United States’ “rules of origin” interpretation in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement could reduce Mexican automobile production and investment, according to an expert from Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.

Rice U. experts available to discuss 20th anniversary of Sept. 11

Paper: Wealth inequality shrinking after Trump-era tax reform, but progress at risk

Wealth inequality dropped in 2019 in the U.S. for the first time in almost three decades, but proposed tax legislation is threatening to reverse the progress, according to an expert at Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.

Wealth inequality shrinking after Trump-era tax reform, but progress at risk, says Baker Institute expert

HOUSTON – (Aug. 27, 2021) – Wealth inequality dropped in 2019 in the U.S. for the first time in almost three decades, but proposed tax legislation is threatening to reverse the progress, according to an expert at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.

US must take responsibility for Afghan refugees, says expert

As some Afghan refugees fleeing the chaos in their home country head to the United States, Kelsey Norman, fellow for the Middle East and director of the Women’s Rights, Human Rights and Refugees Program at Rice's Baker Institute for Public Policy, argues that the U.S. is dodging responsibility by distributing most refugees across the globe, which will force them to wade through more bureaucracy.

Shale oil investments may be protected from nationalization, experts say

Shale oil’s short-cycle production protects foreign investors from the risk of expropriation — government taking private property for public use — providing an opportunity for the increasingly risk-averse global petroleum industry, according to a new report.

Rice provost, structural engineer available to comment on Haiti earthquake

HOUSTON – (Aug. 15, 2021) – Rice University Provost Reginald DesRoches, a professor of civil and environmental engineering with expertise in structural engineering, is available to discuss this weekend’s magnitude 7.2 earthquake in Haiti.

Oil demand likely to grow despite pandemic, study says

HOUSTON – (July 10, 2021) – The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected both consumer and commercial transportation, but global oil demand will probably continue to grow through 2030, according to a new study.

Interesting times ahead for the natural gas industry, say Baker Institute experts

The future of natural gas is complicated in a world where the drive for decarbonization and the need for human and economic development often collide, according to experts from Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.

Rise in credit scores amid COVID-19 may render them obsolete, says Baker Institute expert

Consumer credit scores steadily increased throughout 2020, but an expert from Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy says unintended consequences are emerging.