The 2010s recovery was weighed down by persistent fiscal austerity: Cumulative growth in real government per capita spending across business cycles, by number of quarters since recession's trough
| Quarters since trough | 1949Q4 | 1954Q2 | 1958Q2 | 1961Q1 | 1970Q4 | 1975Q1 | 1980Q3 | 1982Q4 | 1991Q1 | 2001Q4 | 2009Q2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -6 | 92.79903 | ||||||||||
| -5 | 94.42455 | 96.86089 | 93.1549 | ||||||||
| -4 | 92.97881 | 104.5763 | 97.76742 | 95.9536 | 97.26268 | 98.41396 | |||||
| -3 | 95.80659 | 103.7704 | 95.68662 | 95.6534 | 97.96079 | 96.90702 | 97.1442 | 97.21738 | 95.26491 | ||
| -2 | 99.68691 | 103.7435 | 97.34544 | 97.21321 | 99.11551 | 97.38414 | 99.6841 | 97.67438 | 98.68033 | 98.40091 | 95.54005 |
| -1 | 101.0297 | 102.2883 | 97.44405 | 97.94855 | 99.51544 | 97.9963 | 99.37112 | 98.52386 | 99.19218 | 98.76741 | 97.47838 |
| 0 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| 1 | 106.652 | 99.00479 | 100.6313 | 100.3652 | 99.50026 | 101.2492 | 99.24907 | 100.3054 | 100.3142 | 101.6368 | 99.52924 |
| 2 | 101.2557 | 98.62369 | 101.5953 | 101.3941 | 100.6452 | 102.1758 | 99.73392 | 100.705 | 99.99911 | 102.4237 | 99.4363 |
| 3 | 97.5566 | 99.12395 | 100.704 | 102.7161 | 100.4491 | 102.3636 | 99.28496 | 100.8003 | 99.87627 | 102.5812 | 100.3436 |
| 4 | 101.5171 | 98.39362 | 101.1484 | 103.7797 | 100.2865 | 102.6974 | 99.83932 | 99.84297 | 101.2984 | 102.879 | 100.2655 |
| 5 | 107.3538 | 98.55248 | 101.4558 | 103.8774 | 101.0244 | 101.4687 | 100.5263 | 101.3832 | 103.0006 | 99.54466 | |
| 6 | 116.9505 | 97.05224 | 100.7513 | 105.4147 | 101.2774 | 101.4071 | 101.735 | 101.5793 | 103.5206 | 98.79907 | |
| 7 | 125.7723 | 97.07004 | 99.66259 | 106.0131 | 100.2924 | 101.1465 | 102.2704 | 101.3158 | 103.4658 | 97.75721 | |
| 8 | 129.7541 | 98.39858 | 100.6858 | 105.6846 | 102.611 | 101.5311 | 103.7657 | 100.9122 | 103.7324 | 97.01971 | |
| 9 | 131.6787 | 97.81254 | 105.3738 | 103.2787 | 101.5467 | 104.8214 | 100.7311 | 104.192 | 95.85859 | ||
| 10 | 135.4297 | 99.366 | 108.5523 | 102.8074 | 102.0295 | 106.1938 | 100.6341 | 104.3718 | 95.38564 | ||
| 11 | 135.852 | 101.1222 | 108.0357 | 102.2027 | 101.8212 | 107.7791 | 100.6285 | 104.5238 | 94.67948 | ||
| 12 | 137.5306 | 101.243 | 108.6355 | 102.7584 | 101.591 | 108.055 | 100.3789 | 104.5423 | 94.15164 | ||
| 13 | 140.9415 | 101.7904 | 109.3489 | 102.5296 | 109.0963 | 100.6532 | 105.1607 | 93.95881 | |||
| 14 | 142.3413 | 109.443 | 103.4517 | 110.6795 | 101.4527 | 105.1287 | 93.48459 | ||||
| 15 | 109.5364 | 103.7356 | 112.2495 | 101.0538 | 105.31 | 93.41973 | |||||
| 16 | 109.9874 | 102.9802 | 112.1538 | 101.6724 | 105.408 | 93.28635 | |||||
| 17 | 111.1166 | 102.9627 | 112.5128 | 101.9055 | 107.1431 | 92.95273 | |||||
| 18 | 114.9528 | 103.8694 | 112.9643 | 101.6099 | 107.1671 | 92.41171 | |||||
| 19 | 116.0413 | 103.9585 | 112.7088 | 100.9847 | 107.072 | 92.23086 | |||||
| 20 | 117.8536 | 104.6344 | 113.646 | 101.6527 | 107.9508 | 92.3369 | |||||
| 21 | 119.1939 | 113.8692 | 102.2766 | 108.5867 | 92.6896 | ||||||
| 22 | 121.8915 | 113.9332 | 102.1348 | 109.1526 | 92.86114 | ||||||
| 23 | 124.5182 | 113.7117 | 102.4409 | 109.4264 | 93.67068 | ||||||
| 24 | 128.8423 | 114.9939 | 102.4443 | 109.7915 | 94.35335 | ||||||
| 25 | 128.7783 | 115.7054 | 103.0859 | 94.55128 | |||||||
| 26 | 130.0413 | 116.6918 | 103.2984 | 94.62728 | |||||||
| 27 | 131.0418 | 117.5117 | 103.6022 | 95.08481 | |||||||
| 28 | 133.4422 | 118.2052 | 103.7908 | 94.95413 | |||||||
| 29 | 134.9219 | 119.8691 | 104.8758 | 94.9973 | |||||||
| 30 | 135.7141 | 119.8933 | 105.4035 | 94.87157 | |||||||
| 31 | 136.0944 | 119.8235 | 105.7598 | 94.9922 | |||||||
| 32 | 136.8323 | 106.5886 | 94.96186 | ||||||||
| 33 | 136.9189 | 106.9218 | 94.83272 | ||||||||
| 34 | 137.3127 | 107.6688 | 95.0302 | ||||||||
| 35 | 136.3535 | 108.5848 | 95.41862 | ||||||||
| 36 | 108.3443 | 95.74696 | |||||||||
| 37 | 109.2122 | 96.37835 | |||||||||
| 38 | 108.9711 | 96.77549 |
Notes: For total 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. This figure includes state and local government spending.
Source: EPI analysis of data from Tables 1.1.4, 3.1, and 3.9.4 from the National Income and Product Accounts (NIPA) of the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)