List of recessions in the United States

There have been as many as 48 recessions in the United States dating back to the Articles of Confederation, and although economists and historians dispute certain 19th-century recessions,[1] the consensus view among economists and historians is that "the [cyclical] volatility of GNP and unemployment was greater before the Great Depression than it has been since the end of World War II.

The NBER defines a recession as "a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than two quarters which is 6 months, normally visible in real gross domestic product (GDP), real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales".

Their work is aided by historical patterns, in that recessions often follow external shocks to the economic system such as wars and variations in the weather affecting agriculture, as well as banking crises.

[5] Major modern economic statistics, such as unemployment and GDP, were not compiled on a regular and standardized basis until after World War II.

[8][9] Beginning in 1835, an index of business activity by the Cleveland Trust Company provides data for comparison between recessions.

Modern economic statistics, such as gross domestic product and unemployment, were not gathered during this period: Victor Zarnowitz evaluated a variety of indices to measure the severity of these recessions.

[40] The National Bureau of Economic Research dates recessions on a monthly basis back to 1854; according to their chronology, from 1854 to 1919, there were 16 cycles.

[45][46] The creation of the Federal Reserve System in 1913 has been disputed as a source of stability with it and its policies having mixed successes.

[47][48] Since the early 1980s the sources of the Great Moderation has been attributed to numerous causes including public policy, industry practices, technology, and even good luck.

A crowd of several tens of men tries to enter the building through a narrow door. The men wear top hats. At the foreground, a small boy sells newspapers.
Bank run on the Seamen's Savings Bank during the panic of 1857
Perhaps a thousand men, mostly in dark suits and bowler hats, swarm outside a building. There is a 20-foot statue of a man in front of the building and the men have crowded atop the base of the statue.
A swarm gathers on Wall Street during the Panic of 1907 . Compared to today, the era from 1834 to the Great Depression was characterized by relatively severe and more frequent banking panics and recessions.
Unemployed men standing in line outside a depression soup kitchen in Chicago 1931. Following the severe Great Depression , the post- World War II economy has seen long expansions and, for the most part, less severe recessions than in earlier American history.
A graph of annualized GDP change from 1923 to 2009.
Annualized GDP change from 1923 to 2009. Data are annual from 1923 to 1946 and quarterly from 1947 to the second quarter of 2009.