Markets
These Five Cognitive Biases Hurt Investors the Most
There is no shortage of cognitive biases out there that can trip up our brains.
By the last count, there are 188 types of these fallible mental shortcuts in existence, and they constantly impede our ability to make the best decisions about our careers, our relationships, and for building wealth over time.
Biases That Plague Investors
In today’s infographic from StocksToTrade, we dive deeper into five of these cognitive biases – specifically the ones that really seem to throw investors and traders for a loop.
Next time you are about to make a major investing decision, make sure you double-check this list!
The moves that may seem instinctual for the average investor may actually be pre-loaded with cognitive biases.
These problems can even plague the most prominent investors in the world – just look at JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon!
Biases to Avoid
Here are descriptions and examples of the five cognitive biases that can impact investors the most:
Anchoring Bias
The first piece of information you see or hear often ends up being an “anchor” for others that follow.
As an example, if you heard that a new stock was trading at $5.00 – that is the piece of information you may reference whenever thinking about that stock in the future. To avoid this mental mistake: analyze historical data, but don’t hold historical conclusions.
Recency Bias
Recency bias is a tendency to overvalue the latest information available.
If you heard that a CEO is resigning from a company you own shares of, your impulse may be to overvalue this recent news and sell the stock. However, you should be careful, and instead focus on long-term trends and experience to come up with a more measured course of action.
Loss Aversion Bias
No one wants to lose money, but small losses happen all the time even for the best investors – especially on paper.
Loss aversion bias is a tendency to feel the effects of these losses more than wins of equal magnitude, and it can often result in a sub-optimal shift in investing strategy. Investors that are focused only on avoiding losses will miss out on big opportunities for gains.
Confirmation Bias
Taking in information only that confirms your beliefs can be disastrous. It’s tempting, because it is satisfying to see your previous conviction in a positive light – however, it also makes it possible to miss important findings that may help to change your conviction.
Bandwagon Bias
No one wants to get left out, but being the last one to pile onto an opportunity can also be cataclysmic. If you’re going to be a bandwagon jumper, make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons.
Agriculture
Which Countries Produce the Most Wheat?
Global wheat production is concentrated in just a handful of countries. Hereโs a look at the top wheat-producing countries worldwide.

Visualizing Global Wheat Production by Country (2000-2020)
Wheat is a dietary staple for millions of people around the world.
After rice and corn (maize), wheat is the third most-produced cereal worldwide, and the second-most-produced for human consumption. And considering wheatโs importance in the global food system, any impact on major producers such as droughts, wars, or other events, can impact the entire world.
Which countries are the largest producers of wheat? This graphic by Kashish Rastogi visualizes the breakdown of 20 years of global wheat production by country.
Top 10 Wheat Producing Countries
While more than 80 different countries produce wheat around the world, the majority of global wheat production comes from just a handful of countries, according to data from The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
Here’s a look at the top 10 wheat-producing countries worldwide, based on total yield in tonnes from 2000-2020:
Rank | Country | Continent | Total yield (tonnes, 2000-2020) | % of total (2000-2020) |
---|---|---|---|---|
#1 | ๐จ๐ณ China | Asia & Oceania | 2.4 B | 17.0% |
#2 | ๐ฎ๐ณ India | Asia & Oceania | 1.8 B | 12.5% |
#3 | ๐ท๐บ Russia | Asia & Oceania | 1.2 B | 8.4% |
#4 | ๐บ๐ธ U.S. | Americas | 1.2 B | 8.4% |
#5 | ๐ซ๐ท France | Europe | 767 M | 5.4% |
#6 | ๐จ๐ฆ Canada | Americas | 571 M | 4.0% |
#7 | ๐ฉ๐ช Germany | Europe | 491 M | 3.5% |
#8 | ๐ต๐ฐ Pakistan | Asia & Oceania | 482 M | 3.4% |
#9 | ๐ฆ๐บ Australia | Asia & Oceania | 456 M | 3.2% |
#10 | ๐บ๐ฆ Ukraine | Europe | 433 M | 3.1% |
China, the worldโs largest wheat producer, has yielded more than 2.4 billion tonnes of wheat over the last two decades, making up roughly 17% of total production from 2000-2020.
A majority of Chinaโs wheat is used domestically to help meet the countryโs rising food demand. China is the worldโs largest consumer of wheatโin 2020/2021, the country accounted for approximately 19% of global wheat consumption.
The second-largest wheat-producing country is India. Over the last two decades, India has produced 12.5% of the worldโs wheat. Like China, India keeps most of its wheat domestic because of significant food demand across the country.
Russia, the worldโs third-largest wheat producer, is also the largest global exporter of wheat. The country exported more than $7.3 billion worth of wheat in 2021, accounting for approximately 13.1% of total wheat exports that year.
Russia-Ukraine Impact on Global Wheat Market
Because Russia and Ukraine are both significant global wheat producers, the ongoing conflict between the two countries has caused massive disruptions to the global wheat market.
The conflict has had an impact on adjacent industries as well. For instance, Russia is one of the worldโs major fertilizer suppliers, and the conflict has led to a global fertilizer shortage which could lead to food shortages worldwide.
Markets
3 Reasons for the Fertilizer and Food Shortage
Bad weather, the war in Ukraine, and a shortage of fertilizer have led to fears of a global food crisis. Here are three factors you should know.

3 Reasons for the Fertilizer and Food Shortage
This was originally posted on Elements. Sign up to the free mailing list to get beautiful visualizations on natural resource megatrends in your email every week.
Bad weather, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and a shortage of fertilizer have led to fears of a global food crisis.
This infographic will help you understand the problem by highlighting three key factors behind the mounting food crisis.
#1: The Fertilizer Shortage
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the war has disrupted shipments of fertilizer, an essential source of nutrients for crops.
Russia is the world’s top exporter of nitrogen fertilizer and ranks second in phosphorus and potassium fertilizer exports. Belarus, a Russian ally also contending with Western sanctions, is another major fertilizer producer. In addition, both countries collectively account for over 40% of global exports of the crop nutrient potash.
Here are the top 20 fertilizer exporters globally:
Rank | Country | Exports Value (Billions in USD) |
---|---|---|
#1 | ๐ท๐บ Russia | $12.5 |
#2 | ๐จ๐ณ China | $10.9 |
#3 | ๐จ๐ฆ Canada | $6.6 |
#4 | ๐ฒ๐ฆ Morocco | $5.7 |
#5 | ๐บ๐ธ United States | $4.1 |
#6 | ๐ธ๐ฆ Saudi Arabia | $3.6 |
#7 | ๐ณ๐ฑ Netherlands | $2.9 |
#8 | ๐ง๐ช Belgium | $2.6 |
#9 | ๐ด๐ฒ Oman | $2.6 |
#10 | ๐ถ๐ฆ Qatar | $2.2 |
#11 | ๐ฉ๐ช Germany | $1.5 |
#12 | ๐ฎ๐ฑI srael | $1.5 |
#13 | ๐ช๐ฌ Egypt | $1.5 |
#14 | ๐ฑ๐น Lithuania | $1.4 |
#15 | ๐ฉ๐ฟ Algeria | $1.4 |
#16 | ๐ช๐ธ Spain | $1.3 |
#17 | ๐ฏ๐ด Jordan | $1.3 |
#18 | ๐ต๐ฑ Poland | $1.2 |
#19 | ๐ฒ๐พ Malaysia | $1.0 |
#20 | ๐ณ๐ฌ Nigeria | $1.0 |
The main destination of fertilizer exports from Russia are large economies like India, Brazil, China, and the United States.
However, many developing countriesโincluding Mongolia, Honduras, Cameroon, Ghana, Senegal, and Guatemalaโrely on Russia for at least one-fifth of their fertilizer imports.
Furthermore, the war intensified trends that were already disrupting supply, such as increased hoarding by major producing nations like China and sharp jumps in the price of natural gas, a key feedstock for fertilizer production.
#2: Global Grain Exports
The blockade of Ukrainian ports by Russiaโs Black Sea fleet, along with Western sanctions against Russia, has worsened global supply chain bottlenecks, causing inflation in food and energy prices around the world.
This is largely because Russia and Ukraine together account for nearly one-thirdย of the global wheat supply. Wheat is one of the most-used crops in the world annually, used to make a variety of food products like bread and pasta. Additionally, Ukraine is also a major exporter of corn, barley, sunflower oil, and rapeseed oil.
Producer | Grain Exports in Million Tons (MT) |
---|---|
๐บ๐ธ United States | 93MT |
๐ท๐บ Russia & ๐บ๐ฆ Ukraine | 87MT |
๐ฆ๐ท Argentina | 56MT |
๐ช๐บ EU | 50MT |
๐ง๐ท Brazil | 44MT |
Other | 87MT |
As a result of the blockade, Ukraine’s exports of cereals and oilseed dropped from six million tonnes to two million tonnes per month. After two months of negotiations, the two countries signed a deal to reopen Ukrainian Black Sea ports for grain exports, raising hopes that the international food crisis can be eased.
#3: Recent Food Shortages
Besides the war in Ukraine, factors including the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change resulted in nearly one billion people going hungry last year, according to United Nations.
Franceโs wine industry saw its smallest harvest since 1957 in 2021, with an estimated loss of $2 billion in sales due to increasingly higher temperatures and extreme weather conditions.
Heat, drought, and floods also decimated crops in Latin America, North America, and India in recent months. Between April 2020 and December 2021, coffee prices increased 70% after droughts and frost destroyed crops in Brazil.
In the face of multiple crises, the World Bank recently announced financial support of up to $30 billion to existing and new projects in areas such as agriculture, nutrition, social protection, water, and irrigation.
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