U.S. Natural Gas Price Impact Analysis on Manufacturing and GDP

An analysis by Kevin L. Kliesen of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis examines the economic impact of record-high natural gas prices following hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The study suggests output is responsive to natural gas prices in some manufacturing sectors. It finds that while crude oil prices significantly predict real GDP growth, natural gas prices do not.

Use Cases

• Modeling the sensitivity of specific manufacturing sectors to natural gas price fluctuations based on the analysis.
• Investigating the differential predictive power of crude oil versus natural gas prices on GDP growth.
• Assessing the economic vulnerability of energy-intensive industries following major supply disruptions.

Strengths

• Analysis is authored by a researcher from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, suggesting institutional credibility.
• Focuses on a specific, high-impact historical event (post-Katrina/Rita price spikes) for context.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

Collection Method

Likely contains economic analysis and statistical modeling based on public economic data.

Time Range

Period following hurricanes Katrina and Rita (circa 2005).

Geography

United States economy.