German Finance Minister and Vice Chancellor Olag Scholz told his audience at the Peterson Institute in Washington that transatlantic partners should not get caught up in debate over trade balances. By contrast, Roberto Azevêdo, director-general of the World Trade Organization, specifically told his World Bank/International Monetary Fund (IMF) audience that global imbalances such as some countries carrying long-term current account surpluses while others have had long-term deficits need to be addressed. Azevêdo implicitly chastised the Trump administration for using trade policies to correct imbalances but acknowledged that coordinated action is needed to correct them. Yet Europe plays into Mr. Trump’s hands by perpetuatin...
Key Market Insights The broad market is locked in on this week’s Trump-Xi meeting in Beijing, but this is no longer just a trade summit. Increasingly, the meeting is becoming tied directly to Iran, energy security, and the growing global economic fallout from disruptions through the Strai...
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.