The Year Ahead/Last Thing

What We Got Right (and Wrong) in 2018

A public reckoning.

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By Silvia Killingsworth

November 16, 2018 at 12:00 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

This article is part of the November 19, 2018 issue of businessweek.

It’s devilishly hard to pin down the future, but that didn’t stop us from trying. Here are some of our predictions from The Year Ahead 2018.

● Tech
We said: Big tech companies will be fined.

What happened: Google paid a record $5.1 billion fine in an Android antitrust case, and Apple started paying the $15.4 billion in back taxes it owes Ireland.

● Economy
We said: “The world economy should grow nicely again in 2018.”

What happened: The IMF estimates global growth of 3.7 percent in 2018, same as 2017.

● Politics
We said: Presidential elections in Mexico and Brazil could take radical turns.

What happened: Mexico zigged left with Andrés Manuel López Obrador; Brazil zagged right with Jair Bolsonaro.

● Companies
We said: Nintendo will be one to watch.

What happened: The success of the Switch attracted third-party game developers.