U.S. Economic Growth: A Look Forward and a Look Back

A Final Project for GOV 50 (Data) at Harvard University

Project Summary

The pandemic has brought to the forefront of national discussion the difficulties and importance of maintaining a strong economy amidst a public health crisis. This project seeks to contextualize the COVID-19 economic situation with insights from the last three decades and a state-by-state framework for analyzing the U.S.'s response. In doing so, we can find public policies that have had a positive impact on overall growth and wealth, as well as notice relations between different measures (economic and COVID-19 related) suggestive of proper policy moving forward. With this background understanding of the economy and the impact of the pandemic, we turn to make predictions about growth for the next year and when the economy is expected to recover to the pre-pandemic level.

There are many challenges that lie ahead given the unpredictable nature and scarring effects of the pandemic. This project aims to develop a framework and timeline for economic recovery primarily dependent on the country's approach to managing the pandemic and the approval of an effective vaccine.

View the live Shiny App here.

Repository Guide

• /archive: Archived course milestone assignments.
• /shiny-app: Files to render Shiny App.
• .gitignore
• README.md