08/21/2009
GDP Over the Years
Back on July 31, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis released revised estimates of economic data going back to 1929. I forgot they performed this exercise every five years and I was curious what the impact was on GDP (gross domestic product), so, accessing the BEA’s archives and the press release, following is a ‘clip and save’ for your files.
Real GDP (minus inflation)
1992…3.4 percent
1993…2.9
1994…4.1
1995…2.5
1996…3.7
1997…4.5
1998…4.4
1999…4.8
2000…4.1
2001…1.1
2002…1.8
2003…2.5
2004…3.6
2005…3.1
2006…2.7
2007…2.1
2008…0.4
Q1 08…-0.7
Q2 08…1.5
Q3 08…-2.7
Q4 08…-5.4
Q1 09…-6.4
Q2 09…-1.0 [8/27…2nd estimate]
1929-2008…3.4*
1959-1997…3.4
1997-2008…2.8
*Not to insult anyone’s intelligence, but for those of you, like my college readers, who are just learning the ways of The Street, when you hear someone say “I expect above (or below) trend growth,” they are referring to a base GDP of 3-3.5%, or, more recently, just 3%.
Source: bea.gov
Wall Street History returns next week.
Brian Trumbore
