What Does Annual Real GDP Growth Tell Us?
Mark Perry: Quarterly growth rates in real GDP receive a lot of media attention, and we hear a lot of comparisons of today’s economic conditions to the Great Depression, but what about looking at annual real GDP growth over a longer period of time to get a little historical perspective? Tim Iacono makes that point here on Seeking Alpha. The chart above (click to enlarge) shows annual real GDP growth from 1930 to 2008. Much of the discussion about the “worst economy since the Great Depression©” assumes that we are already close to the economic conditions of the 1930s. The chart below of annual real GDP growth from 1970-2008 shows that the economic conditions of 2008 (measured by real GDP growth) aren’t even as bad yet as the 2001 recession, when real GDP grew at .80% for the year. And assuming the consensus forecast of -.30% real GDP growth for 2009 is accurate, the 2008-2009 recession (+1.3% and -0.30% consecutive growth rates) would be a little more severe the 1990-1991 recession (+1.
