Global

Senior Research Associate Jim Walsh speaks with WBUR Here & Now host Indira Lakshmanan about the global impact of the United States’ conflict with Iran. 

Writing for Foreign Affairs, Prof. Caitlin Talmadge explores the state of the Strait of Hormuz amid the United States’ conflict with Iran. “In short, if Iran effectively mines the strait, all U.S. response options are suboptimal,” writes Talmadge. “The United States should therefore focus aggressively on preventing Iranian mine-laying in the first place and finding an off-ramp from the larger war. If it does not, Washington should expect that ongoing harassment of traffic in the strait will be but one of a number of responses that Iran has long prepared and will now deploy.”

A new working paper by researchers from MIT and other institutions explores the impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), reports Ana Swanson for The New York Times. The researchers “found that American workers in communities that were more exposed to competition from Mexican imports saw a significant shortening of their life spans after the trade deal went into effect in 1994,” writes Swanson. 

Prof. Christopher Knittel speaks with New York Times reporter Emmett Lindner about how the conflict with Iran has influenced gas prices in the United States. “When there’s a supply disruption in the Middle East, that raises prices for every barrel of oil in the world,” explains Knittel. “Those price increases then trickle down to products that use oil, gasoline being the most relevant one.”

Prof. Simon Johnson speaks with Associated Press reporter Paul Wiseman about how the conflict with Iran has impacted the global economy. “The Strait of Hormuz has to be reopened,” says Johnson. “It’s 20 million barrels of oil a day going through there. There’s no excess capacity anywhere in the world that can fill that gap.” 

Prof. Simon Johnson speaks with CNBC Squawk Box reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin about the state of private credit. “The opacity of this sector has become a problem,” says Johnson. “I think disclosure, at least to the authorities and publicly, would be healthy for everyone.” 

Prof. Christopher Knittel speaks with Bloomberg reporter Stacey Vanek Smith about increased gas prices. “Gas is something we tend to buy on a weekly basis,” says Knittel. “But also, we see the price hundreds of times a day. Even if you’re not buying it, you see the price, so the salience of gas prices is like no other.” 

Times Higher Education features President Sally Kornbluth among the world’s top 10 universities led by women in 2026, reports Patrick Jack for Times Higher Education. “Of the top 200 institutions in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2026, 58 have a female vice-chancellor or president – 29 per cent of the total,” writes Jack. 

Postdoctoral Fellow Florian Galleri speaks with Associated Press reporter Sylvie Corbet about France’s move to align “its nuclear deterrent strategy more closely with European allies while keeping full control over any strike decision.” Galleri says “the strategic backing intended to integrate French nuclear deterrence into a collective European defense framework necessarily requires a degree of coordination and joint planning.” 

Senior Research Associate Jim Walsh speaks with WBUR Here & Now host Indria Lakshmanan about the U.S. military action in Iran. 

In an opinion piece for The Boston Globe, MIT Prof. Carlo Ratti and University of Toronto Prof. Richard Florida explore the “paradox of overtourism.” Ratti and Florida note that: “Tourism accelerates global convergence — the same luxury retailers, hotel chains, and Instagram‑ready design cues that push cities to conform to international expectations. At times, it can even undermine more authentic local businesses, which cannot compete against much larger global competitors. Yet local distinctiveness does not vanish under global pressure; it adapts. The visual signatures that make one place different from another persist beneath the surface layer of brands. That is where efforts to manage tourism’s cultural impact should concentrate.” 

Prof. Daron Acemoglu speaks with Fortune reporter Jake Angelo about his work studying the “origins of economic and political decay,” and the need for the U.S. to crack down “on economic inequality and tempering with job destruction.” “If we go down this path of destroying jobs [and] creating more inequality, U.S. democracy is not going to survive,” says Acemoglu.  

Prof. Jim Walsh speaks with WBUR’s Here & Now host Tiziana Dearing about increased military presence in the Middle East and methods to de-escalate tensions. 

Prof. Jim Walsh speaks with Fox News reporter Jon Scott about international relations between the United States and countries in the Middle East. 

Prof. Carlo Ratti speaks with Matt Fortin of NBC Boston about his work designing this year’s Olympic torch. “For us it’s very exciting to do this,” says Ratti, “because it’s a way you can actually push design beyond what you normally do.”