It Costs $333 Million to Shut Down Boston for a Day

Much of the Boston area has been shut down to facilitate the manhunt for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. While that may be necessary as a security precaution, it carries an economic cost. A pretty steep one, according to Jim Diffley, a vice president and chief economist at IHS Global Insight (IHS). The Boston metro area is the country’s ninth-largest and has an economy bigger than that of Greece, Singapore, Portugal, or Ireland, according to the Fiscal Times.

Diffley estimates the cost of shut down of Boston would be between $250 million and $333 million a day.


But it isn’t likely to have a lasting effect on Boston’s economy. “Look back at New York City and Washington, D.C., after 9/11,” Diffley points out. “Both were very fast-growing areas that quickly overcame [the attacks].” Boston, he predicts, will too.
Source: Businessweek Posted by Unknown 4/22/2013