George Gilbert is a senior Economics major who is also getting concentrations in finance and accounting and is a member of the Men’s Lacrosse Team. After working at a car dealership, he became curious about the economic impact of COVID on that industry. In his own words:
“I will be examining the impact with which the pandemic has had on the automotive industry as a whole. The pandemic has brought the US economy back into its first recession since 2008. During the 2008 recession, the automotive industry was crushed. But, in 2020 the response to this recession has been quite different. Car sales have surpassed recent years and many car dealerships are on pace to break company records, even with many of them being shut down for some period of time. Not only will I be looking at the cause of this, but I will also be looking at the change in the market for cars, and determining whether or not prices have changed due to this increase in demand. Lastly, I will look at the downstream effect of the shutdown on automotive manufacturing and if this has also impacted the price and market for cars in 2020.”
-George Gilbert
The ECON LAB @ Roanoke College 