Catalyst Coffee

Coffee is an integral part of my productivity. I would estimate that for 4 hours in the 8-hour day (2 of which are in the morning and 2 of which are in the afternoon) coffee boosts my productivity by at least 20%.

If this trend holds for most other professionals, what does that mean for the whole U.S. economy?

• Professional and business services accounted for $1,806 Billion of the total U.S. GDP in 2008 (which is around $14,000 Billion)
• 50% of Americans regularly consume coffee
• Coffee affects workers positively for 50% of their day (2 hours in the morning, 2 hours in the afternoon)
• Lets say that most professionals are like me and experience a 20% boost in productivity during the 4 hours of positive influence, which ends up equaling about 26% of all output during those 4 hours
• That results in: $1,806 x 50% x 50% x 26% = $117 Billion

It seems that coffee is conceivably responsible for indirectly generating $117 Billion, or slightly less than 1%, of the total U.S. GDP. This is without considering how coffee positively influences other industries such as health care, education, or manufacturing.

This means that coffee could be responsible for as much as 5% of the U.S. GDP.