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GDP Growth: Low, and Falling
by Felix Salmon
Jan 30, 2008
Jan 30, 2008
We officially didn't enter a recession in 2007: GDP growth for the fourth quarter was positive, albeit very low at 0.6%. The main engine of growth is still consumer spending, rather than exports, but it's slowing, contributing 1.4 percentage points to GDP growth, balancing out housing, which subtracted 1.2 percentage points. The best news, I think, comes on the spending and inventories front, with business spending rising 7.5%.
In the end, and with hindsight, I think the US can count itself lucky to get away with 2.2% GDP growth for 2007. If we manage anything like that for 2008, it'll be a miracle. David Leonhardt today calculates what this all means for Ben Bernanke:
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