UChicago Experts on War, Oil, and Economic Uncertainty

Newswise — Global energy prices have surged as the U.S.-Israel war with Iran disrupts Middle Eastern supply routes—especially the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20% of global oil normally flows. The warring nations are using oil as both a pressure point and a strategic lever. This week’s Monday Outlook highlights UChicago experts who can help explain the economics and geopolitics of oil markets and how the current volatility is affecting the trajectory of the global economy and people around the world, including U.S. voters heading to the polls for primaries.

As always, reporters can find scholars on any topic through our Media Resources page, our Academic Communicators Network, and our archive of Monday Outlooks. If you are on deadline and need to speak to someone, contact Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz, director of media relations, at aelejalderuiz@uchicago.edu. Know someone who should be receiving the Outlook? Share the sign-up link here.

OIL PRICES AND ENERGY SECURITY

Sam Ori is executive director of the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth and the Energy Policy Institute at UChicago (EPIC). Formerly the executive vice president at Securing America’s Future Energy, Ori can discuss oil prices and energy security in the context of the Iran conflict, U.S. oil production, and how price volatility will impact consumers.

GLOBAL ECONOMIC IMPACT

Guido Lorenzoni is an expert in macroeconomics and international finance. His paper Global Price Shocks and International Monetary Coordination examines the inflationary pressures of global supply shocks and how the response of central banks affects oil prices. Lorenzoni can discuss how the oil supply disruptions in the Persian Gulf are impacting the global economy.

HUMAN TOLL OF OIL EXTRACTION

Mehrnoush Soroush is an Iranian-American landscape archaeologist specializing in the histories of human-environment interactions in arid climates, particularly in the Middle East, with a focus on the struggle for water provision. She can discuss how oil and water extraction threaten fragile arid environments and the humanitarian toll as those impacts are exacerbated by war.

THE CARIBBEAN OIL TRIANGLE

Ryan Cecil Jobson is an anthropologist who studies how oil and gas industries have influenced politics, economies, and life in the Caribbean. Author of The Petro-state Masquerade, he can discuss the impact of price shocks and supply chain disruptions on oil-dependent countries and the role of unconventional oil and gas (shale, tar sands, deepwater) in the realignment of oil politics in the Americas.

PAYING MORE AT THE PUMP

Steven Durlauf is the director of the Stone Center for Research on Wealth Inequality and Mobility and an expert in understanding the complex range of factors that drive economic analyses of poverty and inequality. He can discuss the economic ripple effect of rising gas prices and how they affect Americans, especially lower-income families.

VOTER REACTION TO RISING GAS PRICES

John Mark Hansen is an expert on elections, public opinion, and congressional politics. He can discuss how gas prices affect voter behavior and election outcomes as people head to the polls for primary elections through the spring and the possible implications for the midterms as well as President Trump’s popularity.