Humza Khan, Northwestern University -- Energy is foundational to modern society, with the scramble to secure this resource driving large parts of history. However, at a time when the U.S. is producing more oil than ever and renewable technology is rapidly advancing, it is ironic that greater energy production and transmission are severely needed.
Eliana Svilik, Stanford University -- Global energy markets have transformed since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine shifted key resource flows, creating new winners and losers. Prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the former was the world’s second largest producer of natural gas and third largest producer of crude oil. EU member states relied on this supply for the majority of its oil and gas as part of a developed, seemingly mutual partnership. As the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion nears, changes in energy supply chains demonstrate that the U.S. and EU have largely won the concurrent energy war.
Amy Cao, Stanford University -- On January 20, President Trump returned to office. In the month since, the President has levied 25% tariffs against Canada and 10% tariffs against China. After President Trump’s first term already dismantled the World Trade Organization (WTO) and associated guardrails, the effects this time could be catastrophic beyond imagination.
Fasih Zulfiqar, IBA Karachi -- Out of the global Muslim population of 1.6 billion, just 14% utilize banking services. In Pakistan, only 21% of adults had bank accounts as of December 2017. While there are multiple factors behind the low bank account penetration in Muslim-majority nations, religion plays a pivotal role.
Aliyah Banerjee, The University of Texas at Austin -- Safety apps have become popular solutions to address women’s safety in India, using features like panic buttons, location-sharing, and SOS alerts to enable safe travel at night and aid in instances of sexual violence or harassment. However, a lack of digital literacy, feelings of constraint with location-sharing services, fear of control by abusive partners, data privacy concerns, and perpetuation of sexual violence stereotypes pose significant barriers for female users of these apps. To alleviate these concerns, using one-sided matching is proposed to build a novel safety platform for women.
Finn Marten, Kiel University & Kiel Institute for the World Economy -- International economic system has changed dramatically over the last few years. Geopolitical events like the US-China rivalry and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine destabilized international economic systems, causing a full-scale trade war and an unprecedented sanctions regime. Such events signal a rise in “geoeconomics”—the strategic use of economic instruments like financial sanctions or tariffs to achieve geopolitical ends.
Alfonso Delgado, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley — Myanmar’s economy is in ruins. CPI inflation is near a decade high, only an estimated 54.5 percent of the population is employed, and the Burmese Kyat is valued at a historic low. However, Myanmar’s current economic distress sits in stark contrast to its previous trajectory. Here’s what went wrong.
Anshveer Bedi, James Burrell, and Alexander Flores, University of San Francisco — Punjab is facing a pressing yield problem. Despite being a vital agricultural hub in India, making up 11% of the country’s agricultural output, Punjab has witnessed severe yield fluctuations for key staples like rice, maize, and wheat over the past three decades. These fluctuations are caused by Punjab’s shifting climate, particularly the increase of hot weather days, rainy spells, and other climatic anomalies.
Kyle Feinstein, Stanford University — At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, America fell ill to a critical shortage of nurses. At its core, the shortage was an economic disease, and it was spreading. Within months, the global shortage of nurses, estimated at 5.9 million nurses, climbed to a staggering 13 million. The scarcity caused nurses to be deployed out of their specialty. Hospitals were pushed to invest copious funds into contract nurses to alleviate the workload. High turnover rates spawned discontinuity issues, giving rise to safety concerns. This cascade of challenges forced hospitals to limit services and jeopardized the most central responsibility of healthcare providers: patient outcomes.
