On 29 October, when the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) issues the Q3 2020 GDP report, it likely will show the economy grew at more than 33 percent, based on a string of very positive economic reports since July. The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta maintains its GDP “NowCast” which plugs in the latest economic releases contemporaneously to monitor where GDP is trending. Based on today’s Housing Starts report, yesterday’s Treasury statement, and last week’s strong Retail Trade and Industrial Production, today’s nowcast estimate of Q3 GDP growth is 35.3 percent on an annualized basis. The next update is on 27 October with the Advanced Durable Manufacturing report. Below shows how the fo...
Illuminating the value of technical research
On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.