Election year uncertainty may adversely affect the performance
of the American economy
The WSJ piece notes –
“Donald Trump and
Hillary Clinton promise to rejuvenate the nation’s economy. Meanwhile, the
process of electing one of them to the presidency will likely bruise it.
The two leading
presidential candidates, who sit far apart on the ideological spectrum, have prescribed
either divergent or vague plans for trade, taxes, immigration and other
policies that deeply influence the economy. That is stoking uncertainty,
something businesses don’t like and consumers can find unsettling.
“Firms are going to
be reluctant to invest or hire if they have no idea of future government
policy, and if it’s cheap to wait they will do that,” said Nicholas Bloom, a
Stanford University professor who has studied the effects of uncertainty on the
economy.”