With the federal government shutdown having become the longest in history, it may be time to make some qualitative judgments about its effects, short and long term, and whether this disruption of services ranging from SBA loans to farm subsidies and economic data generation has had major or minor impacts on the U.S. economy and body politic. Assuming the shutdown ends, and assuming the sticking point is a border wall called for by President Donald Trump and many Republicans in Congress, will the shutdown have been worth it?
