economic cycles
Recession and expansion
Economic cycles are the recurring patterns of expansion and contraction in economic activity over time.
An economy grows during periods of expansion—rising employment, production, and spending—then contracts during recessions.
These fluctuations typically span several years: The housing market follows economic cycles.
Also called business cycles.
Economists debate whether cycles are predictable or merely observable in hindsight.
- interest ratesPrice paid for borrowing
- inflationSustained price level increase
- GDP growthOutput increase percentage
- leading indicatorsStatistics forecasting economic direction
- troughOpen container for animal feed
expansion · peak · easy money · unemployment rate · monetary policy · recovery · contraction · fiscal policy · boom · bull market · roaring twenties · seasons · job loss · recession · hard times · boom and bust · bankruptcies · depression
- economic historystock market crash, Industrial Revolution, trade routes, Great Depression, gold standard
- external forcesenvironmental factors, market forces, demographics, interest rates, exchange rates
- economicssupply and demand, inflation, GDP, GNP, gross domestic product
- cyclescircle of life, period, rhythms, oscillations, full circle
- fiscal policybudget deficit, deficit spending, national budget, budget surplus, budget deficits
- historical datademographic data, birth rates, death tolls, mortality rates, census records
economic cycleseconomic stability
Sustained healthy financial conditions
steady state · stagnation · economic stagnation · zero growth · price stability
economic cycleslinear growth
Increase at constant rate
structural change · random walk · economic transformation · paradigm shifts