Real government spending in recessions and subsequent recoveries

Quarters before and after recession’s trough (trough=0) 1981 recession 1990 recession 2001 recession 2007 recession Average of pre-1980s recessions*
-6 0.896616
-5 0.951069 0.903305 0.931779
-4 0.956481 0.931122 0.994056
-3 0.956611 0.956237 0.923842 0.976388
-2 0.966001 0.974632 0.976286 0.939863 0.98827
-1 0.979501 0.986229 0.977369 0.964776 0.988581
0 1 1 1 1 1
1 1.006525 1.01064 1.01768 1.000691 0.999889
2 1.015627 1.01068 1.028731 0.999672 1.010998
3 1.019452 1.018734 1.035825 1.006304 1.013018
4 1.007806 1.035028 1.043551 1.011205 1.019615
5 1.016668 1.040344 1.044109 1.014358 1.022435
6 1.032237 1.047378 1.059676 1.008612 1.024178
7 1.037213 1.0456 1.064112 0.994727 1.019842
8 1.055379 1.044469 1.067863 0.989203 1.03334
9 1.068722 1.045282 1.077905 0.981907 1.034099
10 1.085987 1.051666 1.084658 0.980116 1.05073
11 1.105939 1.053434 1.0873 0.977987 1.051463
12 1.108557 1.049245 1.086229 0.980289 1.065141
13 1.121538 1.053469 1.096113 0.983943 1.097342
14 1.14266 1.064492 1.10033 0.976548 1.104742
15 1.16556 1.064838 1.10513 0.973987 1.10762
16 1.16075 1.073931 1.102422 0.975431 1.106733
17 1.167462 1.078877 1.120932 0.977784 1.114511
18 1.176292 1.077595 1.124787 0.972409 1.145642
19 1.176699 1.067055 1.129793 0.976554 1.155502
20 1.186812 1.078067 1.136274 0.983456
21 1.190119 1.095098 1.148157 0.993848
22 1.19184 1.092539 1.15039 0.994883
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Economic Policy Institute

Note: The average of all pre-1980s recessions is the average of government expenditures for the six recessions and subsequent recoveries between 1953 and 1981.

Source: Author's analysis of Bureau of Economic Analysis National Income and Product Accounts (Tables 1.1.4 and 3.1)

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