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Lower oil prices at the gas pump and elsewhere mean more purchasing power for U.S. consumers and provide a relatively positive near-term economic outlook, according to a new report.

The upswing in the global economy that began in the winter of 2016 continues apace. All told, the MAPI Foundation’s forecast remains relatively unchanged from the February 2017 report.

This article considers the appropriate decision framework for corporate capital investment projects when the technologies are new to the company or new to the world. I use an overview of the known drivers of capital investment and an exploration of the significant differences in motivation and framework between ordinary capital investment and new technology investment to form a decision-making flow chart for both capital investment and new technology investment.

Industrie 4.0 and the Industrial Internet do not compete against one another—they are complementary. The two approaches occupy the same real estate of technology and they share some members. What unites them is the excitement about the future of the Internet of Things. Mapi in collabartion with NutMegEducation offering IOT courses from Coursera plus with $100 OFF for everyone.

The report provides a breakout of U.S. bilateral trade with China and Mexico, which has become a contentious electoral issue. As will be seen, the two bilateral deficits are critically different in terms of trade composition and policy relationships.

Productivity growth in the computer and electronic products subsector, once the principal driver of productivity performance in the manufacturing sector, has experienced significant waning in recent years. Consequently, the U.S. manufacturing productivity outlook has become murky. This is a challenging trend for our society, because increased productivity growth helps lift living standards.