John Maynard Keynes used the example of a company considering an investment in a copper smelter which could last years and years.

FORBES: Uncertainty and Risk Management: What to Do About Black Swans?

John Gross, an independent metals-industry consultant and former publisher of the Copper Journal, suggested the main positive of the revelation of the end-of-2010 Chinese level is the increased transparency.

FORBES: FT Story On Chinese Copper Inventories Captures Attention, But Impact Likely To Be Muted