Two weeks after Congress passed the continuing resolution that reopened the shuttered federal government, Democrats claim the shutdown will cost Georgia at least $324 million dollars this quarter (October, November and December.)

That figure came from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. The DSCC used data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the PEW Charitable Trust and Moody’s, a financial ratings and data company.

According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Georgia’s Gross State Product (GSP) in 2012 was $443.5 billion. Moody’s estimated the government shutdown would decrease Georgia’s fourth quarter GSP by 0.3 to 0.5 percent, which is about $324 million.

“It’s difficult to assess cause and effect,” said Dr. Peter Bluestone of the Fiscal Research Center at Georgia State University.

Isolating the impact of the federal shutdown from the larger economic mood caused by the shutdown would take extensive research, Bluestone explained. He also emphasized that the $324 million figure is based on economic forecasts and the final GSP figures for this quarter will not be available until after the quarter ends December 31.

“The takeaway is to the extent that consumers and businesses did lose confidence after the shutdown and did withhold spending from the economy as a result, there will be some economic implications and we’ll see what those are when we see the fourth quarter numbers,” Dr. Bluestone reasoned.

Tags: Georgia, economy, budget, federal, Congress, government, Democrats, cost, capitol, Shutdown