Swiss Cheese Economy

Swiss Cheese Economy

Swiss Cheese Economy

I’m KayDee Gilkey with the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report.?
Throughout the United States, we’ve been experience a swiss cheese economy according to Dr. Dave Kohl, Globetrotting Emeritus ag econ professor from Virginia Tech. He explains that depending on where you live has made a difference to how much you’ve felt the stagnant economy.

Kohl: “Since the Great Recession, much of the 260 million people that live in suburban and urban America they’ve been facing recession and downtimes. However, the 60 million people that live in rural America, for the most part, haven’t faced the Great Recession because rural America and agriculture is more and more tied to the emerging nations rather than the U.S. economy. So the bottom line is so goes the emerging nations’ economies, and the strength of their economies so goes agriculture and rural America.”

Dr. Kohl says the emerging nations to watch are the BRICS -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa and the KIMT -- South Korea, Indonesia, Mexico and Turkey. Since 2000, these countries have represented nearly 50 percent of the world’s economic growth.

Kohl: “These economies represent about 23 percent of the world’s economy and about equal to the United States, but much of the growth has occurred there. Of course, they not only have increasing population but also standards of living have been increasing and they are demanding food, fiber and fuel and of course, that is what agriculture produces.”


 

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