AgLetter reports Seventh District farmland values in the second quarter of 2017 were up 1 percent from a year ago. This was the first year-over-year gain in three years. District agricultural land values in the second quarter were also 1 percent higher than in the first quarter.

Economists (left to right) Thanases Plestis, Richard Rosen, and Alejandro Drexler explore the guarantees that protect variable annuities' balances when their underlying investments perform poorly as well as the extent of the risk these guarantees pose to life insurers.