Washington Bickering Has Killed Nearly 1 Million Jobs

the-exchange Economists increasingly see lasting damage from the drawn-out budget bickering, with a new study contending that political standoffs have cost the economy 900,000 jobs this year alone.

In 2013 alone, political uncertainty cut GDP growth by 0.3 percentage points and pushed the unemployment rate 0.6 points higher than it would have been with more effective government. That happens because troubling news out of Washington tends to push stock prices down and interest rates up, "undermining wealth and raising private borrowing costs," according to the study. Consumers and businesses spend and invest less as a result. That equates to 900,000 lost jobs—without taking into account the recent jitters caused as Washington gets closer to defaulting.