Dissecting US recoveries

- We propose a set of measures to characterize the features of economic recoveries.
- We apply the new set of measures to post-war US expansions and use cluster analysis.
- We find that expansions before and after 1984 (Great Moderation) are quite different.

We propose a set of new quantitative measures to characterize more fully the features of economic recoveries. We apply these measures to post-war US expansions and use cluster analysis to determine that there are two different types of recoveries in recent US economic history, with most expansions before 1984 (Great Moderation) looking quite different from those after.