today's Featured List/August 18, 2014

Florence Owens Thompson and several of her children

There have been as many as 47 recessions in the United States since 1790, although economists and historians dispute certain 19th-century recessions. Cycles in the country's agriculture, consumption, and business investment, and the health of the banking industry contribute to these declines. U.S. recessions have increasingly affected economies on a worldwide scale, especially as countries' economies become more intertwined. The average duration of the 11 recessions between 1945 and 2001 is 10 months, compared to 18 months for recessions between 1919 and 1945, and 22 months for recessions from 1854 to 1919. No recession of the post-World War II era has come anywhere near the depth of the Great Depression (destitute pea picker pictured), which lasted from 1929 until 1933 and was caused by extensive new tariffs and other factors. (Full list...)