Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Recovery in Perspective: Nominal GDP Edition

Remember that "recovery" we experienced in the third quarter? Turns out nominal GDP bounced a "whopping" 3.2% (down 1% from the initial release). Or to put this figure in perspective, the 42nd highest quarter out of the last 251 (i.e. one of the lowest 17% quarters over the last 50+ years).

And while real GDP is the real production of the economy, nominal GDP is important for a debt burdened economy as debt is in nominal terms. Since the recession started in December 2007 nominal GDP is cumulatively negative (over 7 quarters), something that has not happened since WWII.



Some recovery.

Source: BEA

4 comments:

  1. I am no chart expert, but that looks like an intact long term downtrend from 1979-present. Geting by with less but more debt?

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  2. You have to remember that inflation has trended down over that time as well and this is nominal terms.

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  3. I keep coming back to this:

    "And while real GDP is the real production of the economy, nominal GDP is important for a debt burdened economy as debt is in nominal terms."

    It is such an important point.

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