United States: duration of recessions 1854-2024

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 DepressionThe 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 severityWhen 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.

美国历史上持续时间最长的经济衰退，即所谓的长期萧条，无疑是其历史上持续时间最长的经济衰退。该萧条始于1873年的美国恐慌，并持续了超过五年。在20世纪之交的一系列经济衰退中，这场萧条规模最大，证明了美国金融市场未能跟上工业化和货币政策变化的步伐，从而成为整体停滞的时期。然而，广泛认为的大萧条是美国历史上最严重的经济衰退。1929年的华尔街崩盘之后，该国的经济崩溃，工资下降，四分之一的工作人口失业。经济复苏几乎需要四年的时间。此外，美国在国际市场的扩张和融合使得萧条成为一场全球性事件，这成为第二次世界大战爆发的重大催化剂。与大萧条前后相比，经济衰退的严重程度有所降低，随着时间的推移，经济衰退一般变得越来越短，发生的频率也较低。在后一时期，只有三次经济衰退持续超过一年。此外，在1880年至1920年之间有12次经济衰退，而在1980年至2020年之间只有6次。近年来最严重的经济衰退是2007年的金融危机（又称大衰退），不负责任的贷款政策和缺乏政府监管使得房地产泡沫逐渐脱离经济，最终变得无法持续，泡沫破裂。尽管大萧条和大衰退在许多方面原因相似，但经济学家能够利用历史证据来尝试预测、预防或限制未来经济衰退的影响。