As the shutdown drags on, here’s how it can drag down the economy

The longer the US government shutdown continues, the economic risks exponentially increase, economists say. Photo Illustration by Ian Berry/CNN/Adobe Stock

The federal government shutdown has lasted all month and is on pace to become the longest on record.

While history has shown that the economy typically rebounds from a shutdown within a couple of months, each day it drags on brings a greater risk that the economy won’t just bend, but will start to break — and rupture livelihoods in the process, economists say.

“The economy is fragile and, therefore, something like a government shutdown could become a bigger problem a lot faster than people might think,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics.

The negative effects start to build on themselves very rapidly and t