What is a Recession?

Abstract

In the course of its studies of business cycles, the National Bureau of Economic Research has identified successive periods of business expansion and contraction in the United States and several other countries. Business cycle peak dates mark the end of a period of expansion and the beginning of a period of contraction; trough dates mark the end of a period of contraction and the beginning of a period of expansion. For the United States the chronology goes back to 1854 on a monthly and quarterly basis, and to 1834 on an annual basis. Between 1854 and 1961 (the last trough date) some 26 peaks and 27 troughs have been recognized. These dates identify 26 expansions and 26 contractions. The 10 contractions since 1920 are recorded in Table 1.

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