The Economic Policy Uncertainty Index is based on three components: the frequency of news articles containing terms related to economic policy uncertainty, the number of federal tax code provisions set to expire in the future, and the level of disagreement among professional economic forecasters. A higher reading signals greater uncertainty about the economic policy environment — typically associated with recessions, elections, trade disputes, or major policy shifts. The index tends to spike sharply during crises (2008 financial crisis, COVID-19 in 2020) and has trended higher in recent years. A 7D moving average is applied by default to smooth the volatile daily readings. Data sourced from FRED (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis), based on the methodology developed by Baker, Bloom, and Davis.