Given that free trade is about unleashing economic comparative advantage, there is much to worry about in Greek agriculture. Security Trumps Business, Again The spin following the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations in Tokyo includes "breakthrough" and "a path forward," but there is so much to the contrary. Once again, we saw the subjugation of American economic interests to the geopolitical focus of the State Department. The irony is that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced the appoinment of three "business-experienced" trade officials to the department's economic bureau and said it reflects the shift of his agency toward emphasing American commercial interests. He wants the political and economic missions to be "joined...
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...
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.