The National Bureau of Economic Research was founded in 1920 as a private, nonpartisan research organization dedicated to producing unbiased economic research. Its Business Cycle Dating Committee has become the de facto authority for dating the start and end of United States recessions and expansions, including the Great Depression and the 2008 financial crisis, even though the committee holds no government mandate to do so and its determinations carry weight through professional consensus rather than statute.
Facts
Founding Year HeadquartersCambridge, Massachusetts, United States 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
NBER's Business Cycle Dating Committee dated the December 2007-June 2009 US recession associated with the 2008 financial crisis.
Great Depression, Events NBER's Business Cycle Dating Committee retrospectively dates the Great Depression's peaks and troughs; the committee holds no government mandate but its determinations are the field's de facto standard.
Sources
Frequently Asked Questions
Who officially decides when a US recession starts and ends?
The NBER's Business Cycle Dating Committee, a private research body with no government mandate.
No government agency does. The National Bureau of Economic Research, a private nonpartisan research organization founded in 1920, runs a Business Cycle Dating Committee that determines the start and end dates of US recessions and expansions, including the Great Depression and the 2008 financial crisis. The committee holds no legal mandate to do this; its dates are treated as authoritative because of the discipline's professional consensus, not because any statute assigns it the job.
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