>The *slow* deflations were accompanied by strong real growth. The *fast*
>deflations (1873-75 in the U.S., 1893-96 in the U.S.) were not very
>pleasant...
Not pleasant, but there was growth. According to Maddison's stats, which are all I have (and are in PPP dollars, but which seem to correlate highly with domestic stats when they overlap), U.S. growth in those years was:
1873 +4.8% 1874 -0.5% 1875 +5.1%
1893 -4.8% 1894 -2.9% 1895 +12.1% 1896 -2.0%
Doug