Public And Private Investments Lay The Foundation For U.S. Economic Growth

The economy keeps humming along in the face of severe headwinds, most notably the highest interest rates in a generation. Key parts, especially public and private investments in buildings such as manufacturing plants, lay the foundation for faster economic growth and technological advances over the longer term. These added investments follow in part from a range of legislative achievements aimed at rebuilding the country’s infrastructure and boosting the generation and adaptation of renewable energy.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that the U.S. economy grew by an annualized inflation-adjusted rate of 3.3% in the last three months of 2023, down from an unusually high 4.9% in the third quarter. All parts of the economy contributed to this growth, highlighting broad based momentum of an increasingly competitive economy. Growth followed in part from strong public and private investments. And, data on exports show that the economy is already highly competitive and could become even more so in the near term as a result of those investments.