Great Recession

World map showing real GDP growth rates for 2009; countries in brown were in a recession.
A bank run at a branch of the Northern Rock bank in Brighton, England, on September 14, 2007, amid speculation of problems, prior to its 2008 nationalisation.
U.S. residential and non-residential investment fell relative to GDP during the crisis
U.S. households and financial businesses significantly increased borrowing (leverage) in the years leading up to the crisis
US household debt relative to disposable income and GDP.
U.S. Changes in Household Debt as a percentage of GDP for 1989–2016. Homeowners paying down debt for 2009–2012 was a headwind to the recovery. Economist Carmen Reinhart explained that this behavior tends to slow recoveries from financial crises relative to typical recessions.
Housing price appreciation in selected countries, 2002–2008
Securitization markets were impaired during the crisis.
Several major U.S. economic variables had recovered from the 2007–2009 Subprime mortgage crisis and Great Recession by the 2013–2014 time period.
U.S. Real GDP – Contributions to Percent Change by Component 2007–2009
Public Debt to GDP Ratio for Selected European Countries – 2008 to 2011. Source Data: Eurostat
Relationship between fiscal tightening (austerity) in Eurozone countries with their GDP growth rate, 2008–2012
Slovenian anarchist anti-fascist protest due to the great recession.
Sydney's financial district at night. Throughout the Great Recession, the Australian economy remained resilient and stable.
The anti-austerity movement in Spain, May 2011
Federal Reserve Holdings of Treasury and Mortgage-Backed Securities
Bank bailouts in the United Kingdom and in the United States in proportion to their GDPs.

Period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred between 2007 and 2009.

- Great Recession
World map showing real GDP growth rates for 2009; countries in brown were in a recession.

500 related topics

Relevance
Dorothea Lange's Migrant Mother depicts destitute pea pickers in California, centering on Florence Owens Thompson, age 32, a mother of seven children, in Nipomo, California, March 1936.

Great Depression

Severe worldwide economic depression between 1929 and 1939 that began after a major fall in stock prices in the United States.

Severe worldwide economic depression between 1929 and 1939 that began after a major fall in stock prices in the United States.

Dorothea Lange's Migrant Mother depicts destitute pea pickers in California, centering on Florence Owens Thompson, age 32, a mother of seven children, in Nipomo, California, March 1936.
The unemployment rate in the U.S. during 1910–60, with the years of the Great Depression (1929–39) highlighted
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, 1928–1930
Money supply decreased considerably between Black Tuesday and the Bank Holiday in March 1933 when there were massive bank runs across the United States.
Crowd gathering at the intersection of Wall Street and Broad Street after the 1929 crash
U.S. industrial production, 1928–1939
The Great Depression in the U.S. from a monetary view. Real gross domestic product in 1996-Dollar (blue), price index (red), money supply M2 (green) and number of banks (grey). All data adjusted to 1929 = 100%.
Crowd at New York's American Union Bank during a bank run early in the Great Depression
Crowds outside the Bank of United States in New York after its failure in 1931
Power farming displaces tenants from the land in the western dry cotton area. Childress County, Texas, 1938
The Depression in international perspective
The overall course of the Depression in the United States, as reflected in per-capita GDP (average income per person) shown in constant year 2000 dollars, plus some of the key events of the period. Dotted red line = long-term trend 1920–1970.
A female factory worker in 1942, Fort Worth, Texas. Women entered the workforce as men were drafted into the armed forces.
An impoverished American family living in a shanty, 1936
Unemployed men march in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Adolf Hitler speaking in 1935
Benito Mussolini giving a speech at the Fiat Lingotto factory in Turin, 1932
Unemployed people in front of a workhouse in London, 1930
Unemployed men standing in line outside a depression soup kitchen in Chicago 1931.
Burning shacks on the Anacostia flats, Washington, D.C. put up by the Bonus Army (World War I veterans) after the marchers with their wives and children were driven out by the regular Army by order of President Hoover, 1932
Buried machinery in a barn lot; South Dakota, May 1936. The Dust Bowl on the Great Plains coincided with the Great Depression.
CCC workers constructing drainage culvert, 1933. Over 3 million unemployed young men were taken out of the cities and placed into 2,600+ work camps managed by the CCC.
The WPA employed 2–3 million at unskilled labor.
Black Friday, May 9, 1873, Vienna Stock Exchange. The Panic of 1873 and Long Depression followed.

By comparison, worldwide GDP fell by less than 1% from 2008 to 2009 during the Great Recession.

Business cycle with it specific forces in four stages according to Malcolm C. Rorty, 1922

Business cycle

Business cycles are intervals of expansion followed by recession in economic activity.

Business cycles are intervals of expansion followed by recession in economic activity.

Business cycle with it specific forces in four stages according to Malcolm C. Rorty, 1922
A simplified Kondratiev wave, with the theory that productivity enhancing innovations drive waves of economic growth
Economic activity in the United States, 1954–2005
Deviations from the long-term United States growth trend, 1954–2005
International product life cycle
10-year minus 3-month US Treasury Yields

This was particularly true during the Golden Age of Capitalism (1945/50–1970s), and the period 1945–2008 did not experience a global downturn until the Late-2000s recession.

G20 members (dark blue), countries represented through the European Union (light blue) and previously invited states (pink) as of 2016.

G20

Intergovernmental forum comprising 19 countries and the European Union .

Intergovernmental forum comprising 19 countries and the European Union .

G20 members (dark blue), countries represented through the European Union (light blue) and previously invited states (pink) as of 2016.
{{flagicon|Argentina}} Argentina
{{flagicon|Australia}} Australia
{{flagicon|Brazil}} Brazil
{{flagicon|Canada}} Canada
{{flagicon|China}} China
{{flagicon|France}} France
{{flagicon|Germany}} Germany
{{flagicon|India}} India
{{flagicon|Indonesia}} Indonesia
{{flagicon|Italy}} Italy
{{flagicon|Japan}} Japan
{{flagicon|South Korea}} South Korea
{{flagicon|Mexico}} Mexico
{{flagicon|Russia}} Russia
{{flagicon|Saudi Arabia}} Saudi Arabia
{{flagicon|South Africa}} South Africa
{{flagicon|Turkey}} Turkey
{{flagicon|United Kingdom}} United Kingdom
{{flagicon|United States}} United States
{{flagicon|EU}} European Union
{{flagicon|EU}} European Union
{{flagicon|Australia}} Australia
{{flagicon|Italy}} Italy
{{flagicon|South Korea}} South Korea

On 11 October 2008 after a meeting of G7 finance ministers, US President George W. Bush stated that the next meeting of the G20 would be important in finding solutions to the burgeoning economic crisis of 2008.

Jan Brueghel the Younger's A Satire of Tulip Mania (ca. 1640)

Economic bubble

Situation in which asset prices are much higher than the underlying fundamentals can reasonably justify.

Situation in which asset prices are much higher than the underlying fundamentals can reasonably justify.

Jan Brueghel the Younger's A Satire of Tulip Mania (ca. 1640)
A card from the South Sea Bubble
CAPE based on data from economist Robert Shiller's website, as of 8/4/2015. The 26.45 measure was 93rd percentile, meaning 93% of the time investors paid less for stocks overall relative to earnings.
Bitcoin price gain/loss 2011,2013

Examples include the Roaring Twenties stock market bubble (which caused the Great Depression) and the United States housing bubble (which caused the Great Recession).

President George W. Bush discusses Education, Entrepreneurship & Home Ownership at the Indiana Black Expo in 2005

Subprime mortgage crisis

Multinational financial crisis that occurred between 2007 and 2010 that contributed to the 2007–2008 global financial crisis.

Multinational financial crisis that occurred between 2007 and 2010 that contributed to the 2007–2008 global financial crisis.

President George W. Bush discusses Education, Entrepreneurship & Home Ownership at the Indiana Black Expo in 2005
Subprime mortgage lending jumped dramatically during the 2004–2006 period preceding the crisis (source: Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission Report, p. 70, Fig. 5.2)
Federal funds rate history and recessions
Factors contributing to housing bubble
Domino effect as housing prices declined
Housing price appreciation in selected countries, 2002–2008
U.S. households and financial businesses significantly increased borrowing (leverage) in the years leading up to the crisis.
U.S. residential and non-residential investment fell relative to GDP during the crisis
Household debt relative to disposable income and GDP
Existing homes sales, inventory, and months supply, by quarter
Vicious cycles in the housing and financial markets
A mortgage brokerage in the US advertising subprime mortgages in July 2008
Historically less than 2% of homebuyers lost their homes to foreclosure. But by 2009 over 40% of subprime adjustable rate mortgages were past due. (source: Financial Crisis Inquiry Report, p.217, figure 11.2)
Growth in mortgage loan fraud based upon US Department of the Treasury Suspicious Activity Report Analysis
Number of U.S. residential properties subject to foreclosure actions by quarter (2007–2012)
Comparison of the growth of traditional banking and shadow banking
Borrowing under a securitization structure
IMF diagram of CDO and RMBS
Leverage ratios of investment banks increased significantly between 2003 and 2007.
MBS credit rating downgrades, by quarter
U.S. Subprime lending expanded dramatically 2004–2006.
Franklin Raines earned $90 million in salary and bonuses while he was head of Fannie Mae.
Federal funds rate and various mortgage rates
U.S. current account or trade deficit through 2012
Securitization markets were impaired during the crisis.
The TED spread (the difference between the interest rates on interbank loans and on the safer short-term U.S. government debt) – an indicator of credit risk – increased dramatically during September 2008.
Impacts from the crisis on key wealth measures
U.S. Real GDP – Contributions to percent change by component 2007–2009
Public debt to GDP ratio for selected European countries – 2008 to 2012. Source Data: Eurostat
Relationship between fiscal tightening (austerity) in Eurozone countries with their GDP growth rate, 2008–2012
This chart compares U.S. potential GDP under two CBO forecasts (one from 2007 and one from 2016) versus the actual real GDP. It is based on a similar diagram from economist Larry Summers from 2014.
U.S. savings and investment; savings less investment is the private sector financial surplus
Sectoral financial balances in US economy 1990–2017. By definition, the three balances must net to zero. Since 2009, the US foreign surplus (trade deficit) and private sector surplus have driven a government budget deficit.
Federal Reserve holdings of treasury (blue) and mortgage-backed securities (red)
Common equity to total assets ratios for major US banks
People queuing outside a Northern Rock bank branch in Birmingham, United Kingdom, on September 15, 2007, to withdraw their savings because of the subprime crisis.
U.S. Changes in Household Debt as a percentage of GDP for 1989–2016. Homeowners paying down debt for 2009–2012 was a headwind to the recovery. Economist Carmen Reinhart explained that this behavior tends to slow recoveries from financial crises relative to typical recessions.
U.S. federal government spending was held relatively level around $3.5 trillion from 2009-2014, which created a headwind to recovery, reducing real GDP growth by approximately 0.5% per quarter (annualized) on average between Q3 2010 and Q2 2014.
Several major U.S. economic variables had recovered from the 2007–2009 Subprime mortgage crisis and Great Recession by the 2013–2014 time period.
U.S. median family net worth peaked in 2007, declined due to the Great Recession until 2013, and only partially recovered by 2016.

Declines in residential investment preceded the Great Recession and were followed by reductions in household spending and then business investment.

Repurchase agreement or "Repo" transaction components. In step one, the investor provides $80 cash and receives $100 in collateral, typically bonds. In step two, the borrower buys back the collateral, paying the investor their initial cash plus an interest amount. The "repo rate" is the interest rate received by the investor, in this case (88-80)/80 = 10%, while the "Haircut" is a ratio of the cash loan to collateral (100-80)/100 = 20%.

Repurchase agreement

Form of short-term borrowing, mainly in government securities.

Form of short-term borrowing, mainly in government securities.

Repurchase agreement or "Repo" transaction components. In step one, the investor provides $80 cash and receives $100 in collateral, typically bonds. In step two, the borrower buys back the collateral, paying the investor their initial cash plus an interest amount. The "repo rate" is the interest rate received by the investor, in this case (88-80)/80 = 10%, while the "Haircut" is a ratio of the cash loan to collateral (100-80)/100 = 20%.
Composition of SOFR Rate
Secured Overnight Financing Rate or SOFR, a proxy for the overnight repo interest rate. During September 2019, the SOFR significantly increased, resulting in intervention by the U.S Federal Reserve.

In 2007–2008, a run on the repo market, in which funding for investment banks was either unavailable or at very high interest rates, was a key aspect of the subprime mortgage crisis that led to the Great Recession.

The building in Cambridge, Massachusetts that contains the NBER main offices.

National Bureau of Economic Research

American private nonprofit research organization "committed to undertaking and disseminating unbiased economic research among public policymakers, business professionals, and the academic community".

American private nonprofit research organization "committed to undertaking and disseminating unbiased economic research among public policymakers, business professionals, and the academic community".

The building in Cambridge, Massachusetts that contains the NBER main offices.
The building in Cambridge, Massachusetts that contains the NBER main offices.

In September 2010, after a conference call with its Business Cycle Dating Committee, the NBER declared that the Great Recession in the United States had officially ended in 2009 and lasted from December 2007 to June 2009.

The supply and demand model describes how prices vary as a result of a balance between product availability and demand. The graph depicts an increase (that is, right-shift) in demand from D1 to D2 along with the consequent increase in price and quantity required to reach a new equilibrium point on the supply curve (S).

Recession

Business cycle contraction when there is a general decline in economic activity.

Business cycle contraction when there is a general decline in economic activity.

The supply and demand model describes how prices vary as a result of a balance between product availability and demand. The graph depicts an increase (that is, right-shift) in demand from D1 to D2 along with the consequent increase in price and quantity required to reach a new equilibrium point on the supply curve (S).

The most recent recession to affect the United Kingdom was the 2020 recession attributed to the COVID‑19 global pandemic, the first recession since the Great Recession.

Securitization markets were impaired during the crisis

Shadow banking system

Term for the collection of non-bank financial intermediaries that provide services similar to traditional commercial banks but outside normal banking regulations.

Term for the collection of non-bank financial intermediaries that provide services similar to traditional commercial banks but outside normal banking regulations.

Securitization markets were impaired during the crisis

Shadow banking has grown in importance to rival traditional depository banking, and was a factor in the subprime mortgage crisis of 2007–2008 and the global recession that followed.

New York City, the financial center of the United States

Economy of the United States

Highly developed country with a market economy and has the world's largest nominal GDP and net wealth.

Highly developed country with a market economy and has the world's largest nominal GDP and net wealth.

New York City, the financial center of the United States
Washburn and Moen Manufacturing Company in Worcester, Massachusetts, 1876
Oil wells at Los Angeles, California, 1905
Consolidated B-24 Liberators at the Consolidated-Vultee Plant, Fort Worth, Texas, 1943
McDonald's restaurant in Mount Pleasant, Iowa
President Donald Trump with key automobile industry leaders, 2017
United States real quarterly GDP (annualized)
U.S. cumulative real (inflation-adjusted) GDP growth by US president (from Reagan to Obama).
Number of Businesses by Type (US Census Bureau 2019)
380px
Job growth by US president, measured as cumulative percentage change from month after inauguration to end of term.
Panel chart illustrates nine key economic variables measured annually in 2014–2017. The years 2014–2016 were during President Obama's second term, while 2017 was during President Trump's term. Refer to citations on detail page.
US Census Bureau (Number of Employees per Business)
U1-U6 unemployment rate
U.S. real median household income (1984–2018)
U.S. share of income (pre-tax and after-tax) earned by top 1% households in 1979, 2007, and 2015 (CBO data). The first date (1979) reflects the more egalitarian pre-1980 period, 2007 was the peak inequality of the post-1980 period, and the 2015 number reflects the Obama tax increases on the top 1% along with residual effects of the Great Recession.
U.S. family pre-tax income and net worth distribution for 2013 and 2016, from the Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances.
Aerial view of San Diego suburb
Number in Poverty and Poverty Rate: 1959 to 2016. United States.
Wealth inequality in the United States increased from 1989 to 2013.
U.S. health insurance coverage by source in 2016. CBO estimated ACA/Obamacare was responsible for 23 million persons covered via exchanges and Medicaid expansion.
Chart showing life expectancy at birth and health care spending per capita for OECD countries as of 2013. The U.S. is an outlier, with much higher spending but below average life expectancy.
Bar chart comparing healthcare costs as percentage of GDP across OECD countries
U.S. uninsured number (millions) and rate (%), including historical data through 2016 and two CBO forecasts (2016/Obama policy and 2018/Trump policy) through 2026. Two key reasons for more uninsured under President Trump include: 1) Eliminating the individual mandate to have health insurance; and 2) Stopping cost sharing reduction payments.
A wheat harvest in Idaho
Survival rate of U.S. start-ups, 1977–2012. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Business Dynamic Statistics, Published by Gallup, reproduced in UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030, Figure 5.7, p. 143
The Interstate Highway System extends 46876 mi.
The Port of Houston, one of the largest ports in the United States.
Countries by natural gas proven reserves (2014). The U.S. holds the world's fourth largest natural gas reserves.
Protectionist measures since 2008 by country.
The Federal Reserve is the central banking system of the United States
Number of countries having a banking crisis in each year since 1800. This is based on This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly which covers only seventy countries. The general upward trend might be attributed to many factors. One of these is a gradual increase in the percent of people who receive money for their labor. The dramatic feature of this graph is the virtual absence of banking crises during the period of the Bretton Woods agreement, 1945 to 1971. This analysis is similar to Figure 10.1 in Reinhart and Rogoff (2009). For more details see the help file for "bankingCrises" in the Ecdat package available from the Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN).
CBO: U.S. Federal spending and revenue components for fiscal year 2020. Major expenditure categories are healthcare, Social Security, and defense; income and payroll taxes are the primary revenue sources.
Congressional Budget Office (CBO) baseline scenario comparisons: June 2017 (essentially the deficit trajectory that President Trump inherited from President Obama), April 2018 (which reflects Trump's tax cuts and spending bills), and April 2018 alternate scenario (which assumes extension of the Trump tax cuts, among other current policy extensions).
Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg at the 787-10 Dreamliner rollout ceremony
Restaurants and shops in Chinatown, Philadelphia
Percent of U.S. economy from State-owned Enterprises or GSEs
Tennessee in 1897. The U.S. was a leader in the adoption of electric lighting
Steve Jobs and Bill Gates are two of the best-known American entrepreneurs.
Quarterly U.S. venture capital investments, 1995–2017
Gross domestic expenditure on R&D in the U.S. as a percentage of GDP, 2002–2013. Other countries are given for comparison. Source: UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030
World shares of GDP, research spending, researchers and scientific publications, 2009 and 2013. Source: UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030, Figure 1.7
US research and development budget by government agency, 1994–2014. Source: UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030, Figure 5.4, based on data from American Association for the Advancement of Science
Science and engineering in the U.S. by state. Source: UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030, Figure 5.6, based on data from American Association for the Advancement of Science
High-tech exports from the U.S. as a percentage of the world share, 2008–2013. Source: UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030, Figure 5.10, based on Comtrade database
A typical Walmart discount department store (location: Laredo, Texas).
The New York Stock Exchange is the largest stock exchange in the world.
United States historical inflation rate, 1666–2019.
Contributions to Percent Change in Real GDP (1930–1946), source Bureau of Economic Analysis
Contributions to Percent Change in Real GDP (1947–1973), source Bureau of Economic Analysis
Contributions to Percent Change in Real GDP (1974–1990), source Bureau of Economic Analysis
Contributions to Percent Change in Real GDP (1991–2008), source Bureau of Economic Analysis
GDP per capita growth.
Real GDP per capita in the United States
Historical growth of the U.S. economy from 1961–2015
GDP per person in the United States
US Gross Private Domestic Investment and Corporate Profits After Tax as shares of Gross Domestic Product
US share of world GDP (%) since 1980.
U.S. in global economy
The Percentage of the U.S. working age population employed, 1995–2012.
Official U.S. unemployment rate, 1950–2005
United States mean duration of unemployment 1948–2010.
Average annual hours worked
All employees, private industries, by branches
U.S. manufacturing employment
U.S. manufacturing industry's share of nominal GDP
U.S. Change in real income versus selected goods and services v1
Mean Quintile Household Income (1967-2015)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R44705.pdf |title=The U.S. Income Distribution: Trends and Issues |website= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=5 March 2022}}</ref>
U.S. real median household income, 1967-2014<ref name="hbs.edu">{{cite web |url=http://www.hbs.edu/competitiveness/Documents/problems-unsolved-and-a-nation-divided.pdf |title=Problems Unsolved and A Nation Divided |website= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=5 March 2022}}</ref>
Real family income indexed to 1973, across the distribution 1947-2014<ref name="hbs.edu" />
Real compensation per hour in the U.S. (1947–2021).
Historical graph of real wages in the U.S. from 1964 to 2005.
Median Real Wages by Educational Attainment.png<ref>{{cite web |url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R45090.pdf |title=Real Wage Trends, 1979 to 2019 |website= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=5 March 2022}}</ref>
Productivity and real median family income growth, 1947–2009.
Top 1% fiscal income share
Gini Coefficient for Household Income (1967–2007), source United States Chamber of Commerce
U.S. Income Shares of Top 1% and 0.1% 1913–2013
Income inequality panel{{snd}}v1
Life expectancy vs healthcare spending of rich OECD countries.<ref name=life>Link between health spending and life expectancy: US is an outlier. May 26, 2017. By Max Roser at Our World in Data. Click the sources tab under the chart for info on the countries, healthcare expenditures, and data sources. See the later version of the chart here.</ref><ref name=Kenworthy2011>{{cite web|last= Kenworthy|first= Lane|date= July 10, 2011|title= America's inefficient health-care system: another look|publisher= Consider the Evidence (blog)|url= http://lanekenworthy.net/2011/07/10/americas-inefficient-health-care-system-another-look/ |access-date=September 11, 2012}}</ref>
Health spending as a share of GDP
International Comparison{{nbs}}Healthcare spending as % GDP
Average tariff rates in USA (1821–2016)
Average tariff rates (France, UK, US)
Average tariff rates for selected countries (1913–2007)
Average tariff rates on manufactured products
U.S. trade balance and trade policy (1895–2015)
Imports vs exports & net imports
US trade balance (from 1960)
Merchandise exports (1870–1992)
U.S. federal effective tax rates by income percentile and component as projected for 2014 by the Tax Policy Center.<ref>{{cite web|title=Effective tax rates: income, payroll, corporate and estate taxes combined|url=http://pgpf.org/Chart-Archive/0102_tax-rates|publisher=Peter G. Peterson Foundation|access-date=November 3, 2013|date=July 1, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=T13-0174 – Average Effective Federal Tax Rates by Filing Status; by Expanded Cash Income Percentile, 2014|url=http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/numbers/displayatab.cfm?DocID=3933|publisher=Tax Policy Center|access-date=November 3, 2013|date=July 25, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141211105316/http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/numbers/displayatab.cfm?DocID=3933|archive-date=December 11, 2014|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref>
CBO estimates of historical effective federal tax rates broken down by income level.<ref name = "CBO 2010">{{cite web|url=http://cbo.gov/publication/44604|title=The Distribution of Household Income and Federal Taxes, 2010|publisher=The US Congressional Budget Office (CBO)|date=December 4, 2013|access-date=August 13, 2014}}</ref>
Federal, state, and local government spending as a % of GDP history
Revenue and expense as % GDP
A pie chart showing global military expenditures by country for 2019, in US${{nbs}}billions, according to SIPRI.
Debt in the United States
Assets of the United States as a fraction of GDP 1960–2008
Liabilities of the United States as a fraction of GDP 1960–2009
Development of U.S. federal government debt ceiling from 1990 to January 2012.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/omb/budget/historicals|title=Table 7.3 – Statutory Limits on Federal Debt: 1940–Current|publisher= Office of Management and Budget|access-date=December 25, 2013}}</ref>
Deficit and debt increases 2001–2016.
U.S. public net debt and the total public debt
"Twin deficit" (1960–2006)

The U.S. economy experienced a serious economic downturn during the Great Recession, defined as lasting from December 2007 to June 2009.