Out COMPETES The U.S. House released a bill today whose proponents say will enable America to compete with China in science and technology. The biggest component of the COMPETES Act is $52 billion in subsidies to manufacture semiconductors. There is another $45 billion in subsidies for improving the supply chain. It is always difficult to predict how such government largess will turn out, but inevitably there will be some good and some bad. The bill also bolsters STEM education and research, though it is unclear what prevents Chinese students and scientists from also benefiting from generally public goods in an open society since they have in the past. Perhaps most impacting American consumers and Chinese exporters would be an end t...
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.