by Calculated Risk on 10/21/2005 03:21:00 PM

The US Department of Justice Special Prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald has launched a new website today: Office of Special Counsel

"I would strongly caution ... against reading anything into it substantive, one way or the other," [Fitzgerald spokesman Randall Samborn]said. "It's really a long overdue effort to get something on the Internet to answer a lot of questions that we get . . . and to put up some of the documents that we have had ongoing and continued interest in having the public be able to access."

Source: Fitzgerald Launches Web Site

I am not aware of any economic research correlating government scandals with changes in economic activity. My guess is the economic impact of a major scandal is probably minimal. After Watergate the economy went into recession, but most major scandals, like Teapot Dome, Iran-Contra or the Monica affair had no clear economic impact.