Recession of 1969–1970

The recession of 1969–1970 was a relatively mild recession in the United States. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the recession lasted for 11 months, beginning in December 1969 and ending in November 1970.^[1] It followed an economic slump that began in 1968. It ended the third longest economic expansion in U.S. history, which had begun in February 1953 in the aftermath of the recession of 1960–1961.

At the end of the expansion, inflation was rising, possibly a result of increased deficit spending during a period of full employment. This recession coincided with an attempt to start closing the budget deficits of the Vietnam War (fiscal tightening) and the Federal Reserve raising interest rates (monetary tightening).^[2]

During this relatively mild recession, the gross domestic product of the United States fell 0.6 percentage points. Though the recession ended in November 1970, the unemployment rate did not peak until the next month. In December 1970, the rate reached its height for the cycle of 6.1 percent.^[3]

References

Further reading

• Meltzer, Allan H. (2009). A History of the Federal Reserve – Volume 2, Book 1: 1951–1969. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 578–605. ISBN 978-0226520025.
• Wells, Wyatt C. (1994). Economist in an Uncertain World: Arthur F. Burns and the Federal Reserve, 1970–1978. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 54–65. ISBN 978-0231084963.