The Recession of 1949 was a downturn in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

lasting for 11 months. According to the

National Bureau of Economic Research The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is an American private nonprofit research organization "committed to undertaking and disseminating unbiased economic research among public policymakers, business professionals, and the academic c ...

, the recession began in November 1948 and lasted until October 1949. The 1949 recession was a brief economic downturn; forecasters of the time expected much worse, perhaps influenced by the poor economy in their recent lifetime. The recession began shortly after

President Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...

's "

Fair Deal The Fair Deal was a set of proposals put forward by U.S. President Harry S. Truman to Congress in 1945 and in his January 1949 State of the Union address. More generally. the term characterizes the entire domestic agenda of the Truman administr ...

" economic reforms. The recession also followed a period of monetary tightening by the

Federal Reserve The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States of America. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a ...

The GDP of the U.S.

During this recession, the

Gross domestic product Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjective nature this measure is oft ...

of the United States fell 1.7 percent. In October 1949, the unemployment rate reached its peak for the cycle of 7.9 percent.

Main causes of the recession

Many regard the aftermath of the end of World War II to be the main cause of the recession. According to C. A. Blyth "the most important cause of 1948-1949 recession was substantial fall in the fixed investments".

The severity of this recession

Maximum unemployment was about 7.9%. Change in Gross National Product GNP reduced by up to -1.5%. Department store sales fell 22%. The wholesale price and cost of living indexes fell 12 and 5 points.

The GDP of the U.S.

Main causes of the recession

The severity of this recession

References

Further reading