Privatization Pep Rally

[Max Sawicky]

>Ok, enlighten me: (and I'm not being sarcastic, I really want to 
>know...)  which "business cycle" most closely corresponds to what we 
>noneconomists refer to as the "great depression", what was its average 
>growth rate, and how does it compare to other business cycles before and 
>after?  (And while your at it, just how do you define a "business 
>cycle", anyway?  Seems like kind of a squishy concept, to me)

Forgive me for not looking all of this up for you.
I responded originally because I strongly suspect
there was no peak near the beginning of the Thirties.
The crash was in '29, after all.  This means the
decade would begin at or near a low point, and
the average growth rate for the '30's would exaggerate
the rate for the relevant cycle.

The concept is not all that squishy.  Business cycle
peaks are relatively distinct in the data (troughs
are less so).  The National Bureau of Economic Research
issues 'official' designations of when cycles began
and ended.  Don't ask me who gave them the franchise.
Dating the cycles does not appear to have been all
that controversial.

The NBER has a web site so the curious might find
the dates there.  Or Prof. DeLong could enlighten
us if he has a spare minute.

MBS