The Long Depression was, by a large margin, the longest-lasting recession in U.S. history. It began in the U.S. with the Panic of 1873, and lasted for over five years. This depression was the largest in a series of recessions at the turn of the 20th century, which proved to be a period of overall stagnation as the U.S. financial markets failed to keep pace with industrialization and changes in monetary policy. Great Depression The Great Depression, however, is widely considered to have been the most severe recession in U.S. history. Following the Wall Street Crash in 1929, the country's economy collapsed, wages fell and a quarter of the workforce was unemployed. It would take almost four years for recovery to begin. Additionally, U.S. expansion and integration in international markets allowed the depression to become a global event, which became a major catalyst in the build up to the Second World War. Decreasing severity When comparing recessions before and after the Great Depression, they have generally become shorter and less frequent over time. Only three recessions in the latter period have lasted more than one year. Additionally, while there were 12 recessions between 1880 and 1920, there were only six recessions between 1980 and 2020. The most severe recession in recent years was the financial crisis of 2007 (known as the Great Recession), where irresponsible lending policies and lack of government regulation allowed for a property bubble to develop and become detached from the economy over time, this eventually became untenable and the bubble burst. Although the causes of both the Great Depression and Great Recession were similar in many aspects, economists have been able to use historical evidence to try and predict, prevent, or limit the impact of future recessions.

Graph and download economic data for Dates of U.S. recessions as inferred by GDP-based recession indicator (JHDUSRGDPBR) from Q4 1967 to Q1 2025 about recession indicators, GDP, and USA.

By April 2026, it is projected that there is a probability of ***** percent that the United States will fall into another economic recession. This reflects a significant decrease from the projection of the preceding month.

Graph and download economic data for Real-time Sahm Rule Recession Indicator (SAHMREALTIME) from Dec 1959 to Aug 2025 about recession indicators, academic data, and USA.

Bank of America's quarterly net income has fluctuated significantly over the years, peaking at 9.22 billion U.S. dollars in the second quarter of 2021. However, it saw a sharp decline in the fourth quarter of 2023, dropping to 3.14 billion U.S. dollars. Throughout 2024, the bank's quarterly net income remained relatively stable, averaging just below seven billion U.S. dollars per quarter. This volatility reflects broader trends in the U.S. banking industry, where major institutions have struggled to maintain consistent growth amid evolving economic conditions.

During the financial crisis of 2007-2008 and the subsequent recession, many of the world's largest countries increased their government expenditure in order to backstop financial markets, provide a stimulus to the non-financial economy, or to bail-out companies and institutions which were in danger of bankruptcy. China and the United States led the way in stimulus spending, as the Chinese announced a package worth 600 billion U.S. dollars in 2008, while the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) in the U.S. had a combined announced value of around 1.5 trillion U.S. dollars. The increase in China's government expenditure was particularly notable, as it represented an increase of almost one-third from 2007 to 2009.

How sensitive to business cycles are the earnings of top earners? And, how does the business cycle sensitivity of top earners vary by industry? We use a confidential dataset on earnings histories of US males from the Social Security Administration. On average, individuals in the top 1 percent of the earnings distribution are slightly more cyclical than the population average. But there are large differences across sectors; top earners in Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate (FIRE) and Construction face substantial business cycle volatility, whereas those in Services (who make up 40 percent of individuals in the top 1 percent) have earnings that are less cyclical than the average worker.

During the "Golden Age of Capitalism", from 1950 to 1973, GDP grew by annual averages of just under five percent in Western Europe*, four percent in the U.S., and ten percent in Japan. This period of prosperity came to an end with the recession of 1973-1975, however GDP growth rates did not return to their previous levels when the recession ended, as growth was fairly sporadic in the 1970s and then much slower throughout the 1980s. From 1973 to 1987, GDP grew annually at just two fifth of the Golden Age's rate in Europe and Japan, while the U.S.' annual rates were somewhat closer.

One major difference between the two given periods was that the U.S. was the dominant and most influential economy of all developed (non-communist) countries in the 1950s and 1960s, however, the 1970s and 1980s saw Japan and the European Communities (led by West Germany and France) emerge as major economic powers in their own right. While the U.S. remained the most powerful country in the world, other developed nations became more economically autonomous, and began asserting their own influence internationally.

The quarterly net income of Wells Fargo grew overall between 2007 and 2024, albeit with significant fluctuations. After the financial crisis in 2007/2008, the quarterly income of the bank grew relatively steadily until 2019 when it started a sharp decrease. The first quarter of 2020 recorded a record low quarterly income as a result of the economic slowdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the next year, Wells Fargo's quarterly income increased again, but not for long: From the first quarter of 2022, the income of the U.S.-based banking giant declined sharply. The income growth rate in the last quarter of 2022 was minus 50.2 percent, the lowest since the third quarter of 2020. In the last quarter of 2024, it amounted to over five million U.S. dollars, with an increase of over 47 percent compared to the same quarter last year.

Group of Seven (G7) - OECD based Recession Indicators for Major Seven Countries from the Peak through the Period preceding the Trough was 1.00000 +1 or 0 in August of 2022, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, Group of Seven (G7) - OECD based Recession Indicators for Major Seven Countries from the Peak through the Period preceding the Trough reached a record high of 1.00000 in March of 1960 and a record low of 0.00000 in January of 1961. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for Group of Seven (G7) - OECD based Recession Indicators for Major Seven Countries from the Peak through the Period preceding the Trough - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on October of 2025.

The U.S. federal funds effective rate underwent a dramatic reduction in early 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The rate plummeted from 1.58 percent in February 2020 to 0.65 percent in March, and further decreased to 0.05 percent in April. This sharp reduction, accompanied by the Federal Reserve's quantitative easing program, was implemented to stabilize the economy during the global health crisis. After maintaining historically low rates for nearly two years, the Federal Reserve began a series of rate hikes in early 2022, with the rate moving from 0.33 percent in April 2022 to 5.33 percent in August 2023. The rate remained unchanged for over a year, before the Federal Reserve initiated its first rate cut in nearly three years in September 2024, bringing the rate to 5.13 percent. By December 2024, the rate was cut to 4.48 percent, signaling a shift in monetary policy in the second half of 2024. In January 2025, the Federal Reserve implemented another cut, setting the rate at 4.33 percent, which remained unchanged throughout the following months. What is the federal funds effective rate? The U.S. federal funds effective rate determines the interest rate paid by depository institutions, such as banks and credit unions, that lend reserve balances to other depository institutions overnight. Changing the effective rate in times of crisis is a common way to stimulate the economy, as it has a significant impact on the whole economy, such as economic growth, employment, and inflation. Central bank policy rates The adjustment of interest rates in response to the COVID-19 pandemic was a coordinated global effort. In early 2020, central banks worldwide implemented aggressive monetary easing policies to combat the economic crisis. The U.S. Federal Reserve's dramatic reduction of its federal funds rate - from 1.58 percent in February 2020 to 0.05 percent by April - mirrored similar actions taken by central banks globally. While these low rates remained in place throughout 2021, mounting inflationary pressures led to a synchronized tightening cycle beginning in 2022, with central banks pushing rates to multi-year highs. By mid-2024, as inflation moderated across major economies, central banks began implementing their first rate cuts in several years, with the U.S. Federal Reserve, Bank of England, and European Central Bank all easing monetary policy.

Bank of America's quarterly net income has fluctuated significantly over the years, peaking at 9.22 billion U.S. dollars in the second quarter of 2021. However, it saw a sharp decline in the fourth quarter of 2023, dropping to 3.14 billion U.S. dollars. Throughout 2025, the bank's quarterly net income remained relatively stable, averaging just above seven billion U.S. dollars per quarter. This volatility reflects broader trends in the U.S. banking industry, where major institutions have struggled to maintain consistent growth amid evolving economic conditions.

† Starred P-values represent comparisons of means during and after the recession compared to pre-recession. The two columns of p-values represent the results of Bonferroni tests, which are used to test the significant associations of the “during, before, and after” recession periods with the categorical variables for females and males, respectively (NS = non-significant).* p ≤ 0.05;** p ≤ 0.01;*** p ≤ 0.001Weighted summary statistics of the sample before, during, and after the recession†.

In the first quarter of 2025, four of the five largest U.S. banks reported an increase in return on equity (ROE) compared to the previous quarter. JPMorgan Chase led the group with a ROE of 16.67 percent, followed by U.S. Bancorp and Wells Fargo. However, Wells Fargo experienced a slight decline in its ROE early in the year.

In the first quarter of 2025, the five largest U.S. banks posted strong return on assets, with JPMorgan Chase leading the group at 1.34 percent. Wells Fargo and U.S. Bancorp followed closely, also delivering solid ROA figures.

Shocks to the real price of oil may reflect oil supply shocks, shocks to the global demand for all industrial commodities, or demand shocks that are specific to the crude oil market. Each shock has different effects on the real price of oil and on US macroeconomic aggregates. Changes in the composition of shocks help explain why regressions of macroeconomic aggregates on oil prices tend to be unstable. Evidence that the recent surge in oil prices was driven primarily by global demand shocks helps explain why this shock so far has failed to cause a major recession in the United States. (JEL E31, E32, Q41, Q43)

View data of the S&P 500, an index of the stocks of 500 leading companies in the US economy, which provides a gauge of the U.S. equity market.

Some analysts and economists recently warned that the United States economy faces a much higher risk of recession should the price of oil rise to $100 per barrel or more. In February 2008, spot crude oil prices closed above $100 per barrel for the first time ever, and since then they have climbed even higher. Meanwhile, according to some surveys of economists, it is highly probable that a recession began in the United States in late 2007 or early 2008. Although the findings in this paper are consistent with the view that the United States economy has become much less sensitive to large changes in oil prices, a simple forecasting exercise using Hamilton's model augmented with the first principal component of 85 macroeconomic variables reveals that a permanent increase in the price of crude oil to $150 per barrel by the end of 2008 could have a significant negative effect on the growth rate of real gross domestic product in the short run. Moreover, the model also predicts that such an increase in oil prices would produce much higher overall and core inflation rates in 2009 than most policymakers expect.

Home prices fell by **** percent during the Great Recession of 2007 to 2009 in the United States. However, such a significant decrease in prices did not happen in the other four recessions which have occurred since 1980.

The U.S. entered the Great Recession with a high and geographically diverse incidence of household financial distress. This dispersion, combined with the fact that highly financially distressed regions experienced the largest housing busts, exacerbated the drop in aggregate consumption during the recession.