Export Taxes Argentina’s difficult economic situation forced the Argentine peso to devaluate from 21 to 25.5 pesos/dollar in May. The Argentine government announced a negotiation with the IMF for a loan of $30 billion dollars to stabilize the Argentine peso. The IMF should require the government to address the fiscal deficit. As a reaction, the Agriculture Ministry announced an export duty of 15 percent for biodiesel starting next July. Argentina had already imposed an 8 percent duty on exporters after the U.S. increase on import duties to 65 percent, in an attempt to have the U.S. remove it’s import tariffs. The need for a big adjustment to fiscal policy to addres the deficit created rumors last week that Argentina might appl...
The Olympic marmot (Marmota olympus) is a rodent in the squirrel family, Sciuridae. It occurs only in the U.S. state of Washington, at the middle elevations of the Olympic Peninsula. The closest relatives of this species are the hoary marmot and the Vancouver Island marmot. In 2009, it was decl...
From WPI Consulting
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.