Economy + Business - The Conversation

$A few people work in a dimly lit and largely empty office.$

How employers can make good decisions about remote work before the next crisis strikes

Sebastian Fixson, Babson College

$Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh, wearing a grey suit and a blue tie, speaks at a news conference in Washington on July 29, 2026.$

US consumers and businesses are now facing a future of more expensive borrowing

John W. Diamond, Rice University

AI is supercharging money scams – here’s what you can do to protect yourself

Pawan Jain, University of Michigan Flint

$An older man looks at a paper statement, with a confused expression, in front of his laptop.$

The tourism industry is slowly waking up to solo travelers’ needs

Peter McGraw, University of Colorado Boulder

$A male hiker with a large backpack stands over a body of water surrounded by plunging cliffs.$

The US sells more to Brazil than it buys – but Trump is slapping steep tariffs on its exports anyway

Filipe Mendonça, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia (UFU) and Henrique Menezes, Universidade Federal da Paraíba (UFPB)

$Shipping containers, cargo cranes and port facilities make for a colorful vista with the sea and mountains in the background.$

To crack the job market, internships can be just as key for young people as the degree

Matthew J. Mayhew, The Ohio State University; Courtney DeRoche, The Ohio State University, and Yun-Han Weng, The Ohio State University

$An instructor and an intern in the BATTERI program work together in a factory.$

Iran war and the economy

$People stand on a street next to many metal cylinders.$

Oil shortages escalate from wars in Iran and Ukraine, with few signs of relief

Amy Myers Jaffe, New York University; Tufts University

Emerging Houthi–Al-Shabaab co-operation and the growing threat to Red Sea shipping

Brendon Novel, Université de Montréal

$Houthi supporters dance to celebrate$

What’s in the price of a gallon of gas?

Robert I. Harris, Georgia Institute of Technology

$A person stands between a gas pump and a vehicle, with gas prices of $4.29 for a gallon of regular displayed in the background.$

War in the Middle East made the case for renewables – what’s happening in each country tells a harder story

Ezgi Canpolat, Harvard University

$An aerial view of a very large array of solar panels in a desert.$

UAE’s OPEC exit has been long in the works – and may mark the beginning of a Gulf realignment

Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Rice University

$A man in traditional Emirati dress looks out to a large oil pipeline.$

Economics

$A stressed-out young woman sits in a shopping cart in a shopping warehouse.$

Shoppers are less peeved by cost hikes due to scarcity – but retailers more often blame their own rising costs

Hoorsana Damavandi, University of Tennessee; Kersi D. Antia, Ivey Business School, and Praveen K. Kopalle, Dartmouth College

US-Canada trade war deepens as Trump revives Depression-era trade tool – what’s at stake for consumers and the midterms

Kent Jones, Babson College

$Two flags – one red and white with a red maple leaf, the other with white stars on a blue background and red and white stripes – wave next to a bridge with cars on it.$

Trump’s ‘forever’ tariffs are kicking in for the long haul – and US consumers are footing the bill