World Perspectives

Barriers are Good; Squeezed in the Trade War; Calculating the Impacts; Tax is a Tax

Barriers are Good The issue de jour is tariffs. Donald Trump is vilified by conventionalists for the self-induced wound of raising this single barrier to business. As a businessman, Trump sees a complex web of market barriers. Domestic regulations, domestic taxes, but also foreign tariffs (taxes) and foreign regulations. The legacy media criticizes his efforts to reduce domestic regulations and taxes because of their contended adverse impact on social goals, but it also vilifies his effort to reduce the adverse impact of foreign taxes and regulations on America’s international imbalances. So, barriers by other countries are okay, and do not reduce U.S. domestic constraints on business. There is a consistency, barriers are good. &...

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From WPI Consulting

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On behalf of a private U.S. agricultural technology provider, WPI’s team generated an econometric model to forecast the movement of concentrated corn production north and west from the traditional U.S. Corn Belt. WPI’s model has subsequently provided quantitative support to a multi-million-dollar investment into short-season corn variety development. WPI’s methodology included a series of interviews with regional grain elevators and seed consultants. Emphasizing outreach and communication with stakeholders who possess intimate sectoral knowledge – on-the-ground insights – is a regular component of WPI’s methodologies, made possible by WPI’s ever-growing network of industry contacts.

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