AMES, Iowa -- An Iowa State University economist has done the math on what a billion dollars in federal COVID-19 pandemic stimulus money can do for Iowa's economy.
"It supports 7,700 jobs, and this most recent round of pandemic rescue assistance is going to put close to $5 billion into households' pockets over the course of the rest of this year" says ISU's Dave Swenson.
He also says stimulus money that's not spent right away can still help the economy
"Those are still funds that are available in the economy to loan out--they're part of the economy. The money doesn't just get put into a mattress--it's doing something," Swenson says.
He says three rounds of of individual stimulus payment have, without question, helped the nation's economy.
"Had we not had that flow of funds, the decline that we saw in March and April last year would have been tremendously worse. And, the pace at which we were able to recover would have slowed substantially," Swenson says.
As for the future, he says increased vaccinations will mean renewed confidence in the American public, and ultimately the economy.
"The economy cannot be healthier than the population. That means the healthier the population the healthier the economy" Swenson says.
He says he expects the economy to recover from last year's near-collapse sometime in the next nine to 15 months.