Recession of 1949
The Recession of 1949 was a downturn in the United States lasting for 11 months. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the recession began in November 1948 and lasted until October 1949.[1]
The 1949 recession was a brief economic downturn; forecasters of the time expected much worse, perhaps influenced by the poor economy in their recent lifetime.[2] The recession began shortly after President Truman's "Fair Deal" economic reforms. The recession also followed a period of monetary tightening by the Federal Reserve.[3]
The GDP of the U.S.[]
During this recession, the Gross domestic product of the United States fell 1.7 percent. In October 1949, the unemployment rate reached its peak for the cycle of 7.9 percent.[4]
Main causes of the recession[]
Many[who?] regard the aftermath of the end of World War II to be the main cause of the recession. According to C. A. Blyth "the most important cause of 1948-1949 recession was substantial fall in the fixed investments".[5]
The severity of this recession[]
Maximum unemployment was about 7.9%. Change in Gross National Product GNP reduced by up to -1.5%. Department store sales fell 22%. The wholesale price and cost of living indexes fell 12 and 5 points.[6]
References[]
- ^ "NBER Business Cycle Expansions and Contractions". NBER. Retrieved 2008-10-01.
- ^ Zarnowitz, Victor (1996). Business Cycles: Theory, History, Indicators, and Forecasting. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 416. ISBN 0-226-97891-5.
- ^ Labonte, Marc (2002-01-10). "The Current Economic Recession" (PDF). Congressional Research Service. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-10-10. Retrieved 2008-03-05.
- ^ Labour Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey, Bureau of Labour Statistics. Retrieved on September 19, 2009
- ^ Arnold Zellner (August 1957). "Consumption and the Consumption Function in the U.S. 1948-1949 Recession". The Review of Economics and Statistics. 39 (3): 303–311. doi:10.2307/1926046.
- ^ D. Hamberg (March 1952). "The Recession of 1948-49 in the United States". The Economic Journal. 62 (245): 1–14. doi:10.2307/2227168.
Further reading[]
- Friedman, Milton; Schwartz, Anna J. (1993) [1963]. A Monetary History of the United States, 1867–1960. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 604–610. ISBN 978-0691003542.
- Meltzer, Allan H. (2003). A History of the Federal Reserve – Volume 1: 1913–1951. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 667–681. ISBN 978-0226520001.
- Bremner, Robert P. (2004). Chairman of the Fed: William McChesney Martin Jr. and the Creation of the American Financial System. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. pp. 69–72. ISBN 978-0300105087.
- Recessions in the United States
- 1949 in economics
- 1948 in economics
- 1948 in the United States
- 1949 in the United States
- Presidency of Harry S. Truman