ABSTRACT
Major impacts occurred in agriculture, water resources, transportation, recreation, wildlife, and other US environmental and economic systems, though losses in some areas were balanced by gains in others. The drought in the central US was sufficiently short-lived that effects on urban-industrial water supplies in the Midwest were mostly minor. The effects of the drought on the nation's economy in 1988 can be disaggregated by sectors, including agriculture, transportation, power generation, recreation, and business and commerce. Experts expected that the drought, primarily through increased food prices, would cause a 0.1% increase in the 1988 inflation rate and 0.2-0.3% increase in the 1989 rate. Continuation of the drought in 1989 evoked a national drought policy crisis. The environment and ecosystems experience the most subtle and enduring impacts of drought. The Interagency Drought Committee's December report to the president concluded that there will be "little effect on the overall growth rate of the US economy from the drought of 1988."
