World Perspectives

Competitiveness and Climate; U.S.-EU Meltdown; Meat Tax

Competitiveness and Climate Switzerland has dominated the Global Competitiveness Index over the past decade with Singapore and Northern European countries not far behind (see graph below). Assembled by the World Economic Forum, the index this year put the U.S. in the number one position for the first time since 2008. Some in the Trump administration may wish to take credit for this turnabout, but the outcome is because the index now incorporates a stronger dose of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, idea generation and other factors). Separately, the International Energy Agency says that global greenhouse gas emissions increased in 2017 and are up again in the first nine months of this year. While P...

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Recent Market Volatility Increases Futures Mispricing

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From WPI Consulting

Forecasting developments in production agriculture

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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