Think Tanks
Here's a look at documents from think tanks
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Manhattan Institute: 'Correcting the Core: University General Education Requirements Need State Oversight'
NEW YORK, Dec. 25 (TNSLrpt) -- The Manhattan Institute issued the following issue brief on Dec. 18, 2025 by Neetu Arnold entitled "Correcting the Core: University General Education Requirements Need State Oversight."
Here is the introduction:
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Universities across the U.S. are struggling to rebuild public trust, as many Americans are concerned about politicization and the return on investment of a college degree. At their best, universities impart knowledge and skills that students can apply both as informed citizens and in their careers. They are places of innovation, where research-driven
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NEW YORK, Dec. 25 (TNSLrpt) -- The Manhattan Institute issued the following issue brief on Dec. 18, 2025 by Neetu Arnold entitled "Correcting the Core: University General Education Requirements Need State Oversight."
Here is the introduction:
* * *
Universities across the U.S. are struggling to rebuild public trust, as many Americans are concerned about politicization and the return on investment of a college degree. At their best, universities impart knowledge and skills that students can apply both as informed citizens and in their careers. They are places of innovation, where research-drivenstudents gain firsthand access to innovative technologies that shape our economy and drive our country's success.
But universities have abused their role as custodians of students and stewards of taxpayer dollars by blurring the line between education and activism, especially in introductory course work or in required courses necessary to fulfill general education requirements. One way to restore trust is for universities, as well as the public officials responsible for oversight at the state level, to revisit those general education requirements that students must complete at public universities.
This report looks at ways to reduce politicization in general education courses and streamline the options offered to students. Key points:
* Revisions to general education requirements in Florida, which this brief uses as a case study, reduced activist-oriented courses and streamlined options for students.
* Diversity requirements, whether embedded in general education programs or stand-alone graduation mandates, remain present in 12 states with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) bans on the books.
* As public institutions funded by taxpayers, universities must ensure that general education courses are academically rigorous and broadly applicable, as opposed to advancing one political worldview.
The report concludes that state lawmakers must take a more active role in revisiting general education requirements in order to restore trust in higher education.
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View full issue brief at: https://manhattan.institute/article/correcting-the-core-university-general-education-requirements-need-state-oversight
[Category: Think Tank]
IEEFA: 'Expensive, Underutilized Jamshoro Coal Plant Exposes Pakistan's Power Sector Overcapacity'
WASHINGTON, Dec. 25 (TNSLrpt) -- The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis issued the following on Dec. 17, 2025 by Haneea Isaad entitled "Expensive, underutilized Jamshoro coal plant exposes Pakistan's power sector overcapacity."
Here are the key findings:
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Since its commissioning in May 2025, Pakistan's Jamshoro coal-fired power plant (CFPP) has averaged a 6% dispatch rate over the past six months. Utilization is projected to remain far below technical minimums required for reliable and efficient long-term operations, even under high-demand scenarios.
Pakistan's national
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WASHINGTON, Dec. 25 (TNSLrpt) -- The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis issued the following on Dec. 17, 2025 by Haneea Isaad entitled "Expensive, underutilized Jamshoro coal plant exposes Pakistan's power sector overcapacity."
Here are the key findings:
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Since its commissioning in May 2025, Pakistan's Jamshoro coal-fired power plant (CFPP) has averaged a 6% dispatch rate over the past six months. Utilization is projected to remain far below technical minimums required for reliable and efficient long-term operations, even under high-demand scenarios.
Pakistan's nationalgrid has a significant surplus of 10-12 gigawatts (GW). Energy sales contracted by 9.4% in the financial year (FY) 2023 and by 2.83% in FY2024, while capacity payments increased from PKR0.97 trillion in FY2022 to PKR1.90 trillion in FY2024 -- a 96% rise over two years.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) financed Jamshoro CFPP through loans to the Government of Pakistan, at a time when the bank was already transitioning away from coal. Repayment on inflated loan rates depends on revenue from already debt-burdened distribution companies (DISCOS), adding to the chronic circular debt issue.
The Jamshoro project offers an opportunity for ADB to reassess its own investments and consider the plant for early retirement. Restructuring its debt and evaluating feasibility scenarios could provide financial and climate benefits, aligning ADB's energy transition goals and Pakistan's clean energy commitments.
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View full briefing note at: https://ieefa.org/resources/expensive-underutilized-jamshoro-coal-plant-exposes-pakistans-power-sector-overcapacity
[Category: ThinkTank]
Economic Policy Institute: 'Did Trump Really Fix NAFTA?'
WASHINGTON, Dec. 25 (TNSLrpt) -- The Economic Policy Institute issued the following report on Dec. 11, 2025 by Adam S. Hersh entitled "Did Trump really fix NAFTA?."
Here are excerpts:
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Summary: Trump replaced NAFTA with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement in 2020. But his USMCA has so far failed to make trade work for North American workers.
Key findings
The U.S. trade deficit with Mexico and Canada has widened sharply since Trump signed USMCA; it reached a projected $263 billion in 2025, up from $125 billion in 2020.
Although the agreement sought to revitalize U.S. manufacturing
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WASHINGTON, Dec. 25 (TNSLrpt) -- The Economic Policy Institute issued the following report on Dec. 11, 2025 by Adam S. Hersh entitled "Did Trump really fix NAFTA?."
Here are excerpts:
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Summary: Trump replaced NAFTA with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement in 2020. But his USMCA has so far failed to make trade work for North American workers.
Key findings
The U.S. trade deficit with Mexico and Canada has widened sharply since Trump signed USMCA; it reached a projected $263 billion in 2025, up from $125 billion in 2020.
Although the agreement sought to revitalize U.S. manufacturingindustries, manufacturers across the country shed or furloughed more than 576,000 jobs since he signed the agreement.
In the critical automotive industry that Trump said he wanted to reshore, imports of motor vehicles and parts from Mexico nearly doubled following USMCA, rising to $274 billion in 2024, up from $196 billion in 2019: Light-duty vehicles imports from Mexico rose 36% while imports of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles increased a whopping 256%.
Though some USMCA labor reforms are worth preserving and expanding, the overall wage gap in manufacturing still fuels corporate offshoring to Mexico's low-wage, low-standard environment. Mexican manufacturing wages are just $2.76 an hour--a mere 10% of U.S. manufacturing wages.
USMCA left a gaping loophole for Chinese manufacturers to exploit duty-free access to North American markets without reciprocal market access for U.S. manufacturers. Chinese firms expanded their direct investment footprint in Mexico by as much as 288% through 2023.
Why this matters
USMCA is now up for its 2026 sunset review, giving all three countries a chance to decide its future. Trump's version has already failed workers across North America and urgently needs serious reform. Simply walking away would not fix USMCA's fatal flaws, but would instead saddle workers with another 10 years of deindustrialization under unfair trade rules.
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View full version at: https://www.epi.org/publication/did-trump-really-fix-nafta-what-usmca-failed-to-do-and-how-to-put-workers-first-in-north-american-trade/
[Category: Think Tank]
Economic & Social Research Institute: 'Introduction to the ESR Special Issue on Energy, Environment and Climate Change Economics'
DUBLIN, Ireland, Dec. 25 (TNSLrpt) -- The Economic and Social Research Institute issued the following journal article on Dec. 16, 2025 by Niall Farrell, Kelly C de Bruin and Jason Harold entitled "Introduction to the ESR Special Issue on Energy, Environment and Climate Change Economics."
Here is the abstract:
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This special issue contains four papers that highlight key economic issues in Irish climate and energy policy. The first paper tackles the decision to install a home energy retrofit, identifying factors that influence the financial viability of investment. The second paper quantifies
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DUBLIN, Ireland, Dec. 25 (TNSLrpt) -- The Economic and Social Research Institute issued the following journal article on Dec. 16, 2025 by Niall Farrell, Kelly C de Bruin and Jason Harold entitled "Introduction to the ESR Special Issue on Energy, Environment and Climate Change Economics."
Here is the abstract:
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This special issue contains four papers that highlight key economic issues in Irish climate and energy policy. The first paper tackles the decision to install a home energy retrofit, identifying factors that influence the financial viability of investment. The second paper quantifiesthe air pollution impacts of domestic and EU-level carbon pricing.
The third paper shifts the focus to climate adaptation, showing that firms in flood-prone areas face higher credit costs, indicating that climate-related physical risks are at least partially priced into the cost of credit for Irish firms. However, the authors find that some firms in flood-prone areas face greater difficulty in accessing credit.
The final paper of this special issue provides a comparison of Irish emissions from production and consumption-based measurement techniques, revealing that Ireland's carbon footprint is larger under consumption-based measurement, offering insights for domestic policy design.
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View the full doc at: https://www.esri.ie/publications/introduction-to-the-esr-special-issue-on-energy-environment-and-climate-change
[Category: ThinkTank]
Economic & Social Research Institute: 'Co-benefits of the Irish Carbon Tax and the European Emissions Trading System on Outdoor Air Pollution in Ireland'
DUBLIN, Ireland, Dec. 25 (TNSLrpt) -- The Economic and Social Research Institute issued the following journal article on Dec. 16, 2025 by Kirsten Everett, Kelly C de Bruin and Aykut Mert Yakut entitled "Co-benefits of the Irish carbon tax and the European Emissions Trading System on outdoor air pollution in Ireland."
Here is the abstract:
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Climate policies designed to cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions can also reduce harmful air pollutants, delivering health and environmental co-benefits. Using a computable general equilibrium model for Ireland, this paper examines how carbon taxation
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DUBLIN, Ireland, Dec. 25 (TNSLrpt) -- The Economic and Social Research Institute issued the following journal article on Dec. 16, 2025 by Kirsten Everett, Kelly C de Bruin and Aykut Mert Yakut entitled "Co-benefits of the Irish carbon tax and the European Emissions Trading System on outdoor air pollution in Ireland."
Here is the abstract:
* * *
Climate policies designed to cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions can also reduce harmful air pollutants, delivering health and environmental co-benefits. Using a computable general equilibrium model for Ireland, this paper examines how carbon taxationand the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) affect non-CO2 pollutants - NOx, SOx, NH3, PM2.5, PM10, and NMVOC.
SOx declines more than CO2 under both policies. Carbon taxation results in greater reductions in transport, services, residential, and agricultural pollutants, whereas sectors covered by the ETS experience larger reductions when ETS prices rise. The response of NH3 emissions is minimal, highlighting the need for specific air pollution measures.
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View the full doc at: https://www.esri.ie/publications/co-benefits-of-the-irish-carbon-tax-and-the-european-emissions-trading-system-on
[Category: ThinkTank]
CSIS: 'Improving Transparency and Human Rights in Procurement: An Incentive-Based Approach'
WASHINGTON, Dec. 25 (TNSLrpt) -- The Center for Strategic and International Studies issued the following report on Dec. 19, 2025 by Andrew Friedman entitled "Improving Transparency and Human Rights in Procurement: An Incentive-Based Approach."
Here are excerpts:
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The U.S. government is the single largest purchaser of goods in the world. In fiscal year 2024, the U.S. government obligated $755 billion, with approximately $259 billion spent on products, including many items that require multitiered and geographically diverse supply chains. This large purchasing power creates significant opportunities
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WASHINGTON, Dec. 25 (TNSLrpt) -- The Center for Strategic and International Studies issued the following report on Dec. 19, 2025 by Andrew Friedman entitled "Improving Transparency and Human Rights in Procurement: An Incentive-Based Approach."
Here are excerpts:
* * *
The U.S. government is the single largest purchaser of goods in the world. In fiscal year 2024, the U.S. government obligated $755 billion, with approximately $259 billion spent on products, including many items that require multitiered and geographically diverse supply chains. This large purchasing power creates significant opportunitiesto foster positive change in supply chains and makes government procurement an important, and underutilized, inroad for the protection of human rights. This protection of human rights in supply chains is vital to both U.S. economic and national security interests. Without these protections, U.S. companies are forced to compete on price against companies using supply chains with forced labor or other labor rights violations, and malign actors who are implicated in a wide range of international crimes and foment instability can be empowered by human trafficking and forced labor.
This report explores potential means for utilizing this procurement capacity and creating greater space for human rights protections within federal government procurement. The report takes an additive view, examining ways in which incentives can be created for bidders to protect human rights in their supply chains, creating opportunities for the private sector to move toward cleaner and more transparent supply chains while maintaining and deepening its procurement relationships with the federal government. It also examines ways in which the federal government can work with the private sector to develop supply chains free of violations.
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The report is posted at: https://www.csis.org/analysis/improving-transparency-and-human-rights-procurement-incentive-based-approach
[Category: Think Tank]
Bipartisan Policy Center: 'Reform Meets Reality: How Ranked Choice Voting Impacts Election Administration'
WASHINGTON, Dec. 25 (TNSLrpt) -- The Bipartisan Policy Center issued the following report on Dec. 10, 2025 by Lily Kincannon, Theo Menon and Michael Thorning entitled "Reform Meets Reality: How Ranked Choice Voting Impacts Election Administration."
Here is the introduction:
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Debates about electoral reforms--in particular, ranked choice voting (RCV)--have grown more common in recent years. These debates focus heavily on important issues like the potential effects on voter turnout, the tone and civility of political campaigns, partisan polarization, and representation. Too often overlooked,
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, Dec. 25 (TNSLrpt) -- The Bipartisan Policy Center issued the following report on Dec. 10, 2025 by Lily Kincannon, Theo Menon and Michael Thorning entitled "Reform Meets Reality: How Ranked Choice Voting Impacts Election Administration."
Here is the introduction:
* * *
Debates about electoral reforms--in particular, ranked choice voting (RCV)--have grown more common in recent years. These debates focus heavily on important issues like the potential effects on voter turnout, the tone and civility of political campaigns, partisan polarization, and representation. Too often overlooked,however, are reforms' implications for election administration, which will determine whether any preferred changes can succeed in practice.
This report gives policymakers, reform advocates, and voters practical insights from election administrators that should be weighed alongside other considerations when deciding whether to change an electoral system.
Dozens of states in 2024 considered adopting electoral reforms like RCV through either their state legislative process or by putting the question directly to voters on the ballot. As with any other political question, state lawmakers and voters are usually inundated with a variety of arguments for why these reforms should or should not be adopted.
The Bipartisan Policy Center believes the perspectives of those who run elections--election officials--deserve significant weight. They have firsthand knowledge of how elections actually operate and how voters interact with the electoral system. Too often, their views and insights are undervalued, and the effects of reforms on election administration are treated as afterthoughts. That approach is misguided, and it increases the risk of unnecessary burdens on election officials, operational failures, and diminished public confidence.
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View full report at: https://bipartisanpolicy.org/report/reform-meets-reality-how-ranked-choice-voting-impacts-election-administration/
[Category: ThinkTank]
