ATLANTA — When businesses loosen their purse strings and increase their capital expenditures (CapEx), good things tend to follow. U.S. businesses this year have already doubled the volume of CapEx recorded for all of 2016, which has contributed positively to the nation’s real gross domestic product (GDP), according to Rajeev Dhawan, director of the Economic Forecasting Center at Georgia State University’s (GSU) J. Mack Robinson College of Business. Speaking at his quarterly economic forecast, which was held on Wednesday, Aug. 23 at GSU’s Centennial Hall Auditorium, Dhawan says that the 5.2 percent growth of nonresidential fixed investment in the second quarter over the prior quarter has boosted his outlook for the U.S. economy. “Compared to February, my forecast is way more optimistic,” says Dhawan. “I don’t usually change my opinion that quickly until all the evidence comes in. I’ve always said ‘investment today, jobs tomorrow.’” CapEx spending was down in 2016 leading up to the U.S. presidential election, which Dhawan says was due to both oil prices coming down and the uncertainty surrounding the election’s outcome. “Everyone was waiting to see which way the election was going to go,” says Dhawan. “Since the election, CapEx spending has rebounded sharply.” Dhawan …
