Take a look at the following chart shows the five largest declines in U.S. real gross domestic product (GDP) since the end of World War II + the Great Depression period. As you can see, the current downturn is in the running to be the worst in the post-war period if we don’t add in our analysis the Great Depression period (red bar). It is obvious that the economy would have to fall much further in order to the losses to come near those experienced in the Great Depression period.
See also the following updated chart from the same author with almost the same results. The current downturn is definately the worst since World War II but not the worst since the Great Depression (red bar) excluding from our analysis the period after World War II (green bar).
Click here to see the article from Donald Marron.
