Economic Outlook
An economic outlook plays an important role in forming expectations about the potential state of an economy. Using historical data and trends of key economic variables and indices, combined with any current policy or geopolitical events, allows for informed forecasts about the economy.
Outlooks are usually focused on a particular economy such as the North Carolina economy, the U.S. agricultural economy, or the U.S. and North Carolina row crops economy. The information conveyed in an outlook with respect to forward-looking statements should be considered as the presenter’s best “guestimate” of the future given all the information on hand at that point in time.
Outreach Materials
As new information becomes available, such as monthly or quarterly economic reports, our experts create outreach materials that reflect recent presentations about important economies.
Regional Development
Economists in ARE address various dimensions of regional developments such as the importance and role of infrastructure in regional development, local public finance, and solid waste management. Broadband infrastructure and its benefits have been addressed by Ivan Kandilov with other colleagues.
Much work has been done by Mike Walden on the diverging fortunes of regions across NC and their causes. Walden also provides various outlooks for the NC economy and its regional composition.
Developing an Outlook Talk
These resources are intended to give Southern Region Extension personnel the tools with which to develop an “outlook talk.” An outlook talk is a presentation that gives farmers and other interested parties information about agricultural commodities’ and agriculture-related products’ demand and supply conditions in the near future. It is not intended to be a crystal ball, but rather a comprehensive look at the trends that might influence demand or supply, thus affecting prices and production. The manual follows along with a set of slides used in several outlook talks in the spring of 2008. To facilitate learning, current databases used to create charts and figures are also made available for download below.
- Manual: Developing an Outlook Talk: Lessons in Demand and Supply
- Sample, pt 1: U.S. Corn, Soybean and Wheat Situation and Outlook for 2008/08
- Sample, pt 2: U.S. Corn, Soybean and Wheat Situation and Outlook for 2008/08
- Risk Management Strategies
- Southeast Grain Marketing Handbook
