State and local spending austerity explains slow recovery from Great Recession: Growth in inflation-adjusted spending by state and local governments following last four recessions

1982Q4 1991Q1 2001Q4 2009Q2
-6 96.67891
-5 98.40845 96.46256
-4 98.92386 96.73869
-3 98.78417 95.56997 97.08859
-2 99.35263 98.03818 98.02192 97.43484
-1 99.37428 99.53765 96.90302 98.87091
0   100 100 100 100
1 100.7916 101.3079 100.7531 100.3462
2 100.5935 102.3312 100.7985 99.72849
3 101.3647 104.2608 101.4654 98.64239
4 101.5274 104.957 102.0422 98.64951
5 102.8011 105.4689 101.5634 98.84632
6 104.0106 106.0567 101.3062 98.08053
7 105.6019 105.7961 102.194 97.03457
8 106.7251 106.3322 101.6299 96.03217
9 108.1191 107.0051 102.4998 95.11211
10 109.9723 108.3784 103.1967 94.95672
11 111.7137 108.8005 102.6419 94.31938
12 112.6535 109.2688 102.5986 94.83081
13 114.6857 110.2282 102.9015 94.26933
14 116.0163 111.1565 103.4383 94.07547
15 117.168 112.4807 103.3053 93.87549
16 117.6919 113.5361 103.3453 94.43947
17 118.3227 114.1922 102.3932 94.79901
18 118.6887 114.1988 103.0579 94.57119
19 119.1768 113.5725 103.9334 94.50842
20 120.697 114.0972 104.0008 95.56804
21 122.0653 116.5445 105.7482 96.79811
22 123.5624 116.6986 105.0869 97.81506
23 124.2218 117.772 105.3214 98.892
24 125.7534 119.0412 105.9506 100.336
25 126.8061 119.2027 100.9139
26 128.289 119.9146 100.8577
27 129.8107 120.6201 101.8333

Notes: This figure describes total state and local government spending. Government consumption and investment expenditures are deflated with the NIPA price deflator. Government transfer payments are deflated with the price deflator for personal consumption expenditures.

Source: EPI analysis of Bureau of Economic Analysis National Income and Product Accounts public data (BEA various years)

Extended Source: EPI analysis of Bureau of Economic Analysis National Income and Product Accounts (NIPA) data from Tables 1.1.4, 3.3, and 3.9.4

View the underlying data on epi.org.