Saturday, December 31, 2011

DeLong and Short of it


DeLong (h/t Jazz):

In 1950, finance and insurance in the United States accounted for 2.8% of GDP, according to US Department of Commerce estimates. By 1960, that share had grown to 3.8% of GDP, and reached 6% of GDP in 1990. Today, it is 8.4% of GDP, and it is not shrinking.


Jazzbumpa:

The yearly values for GDP growth since the 50's are contained in a collapsing envelope, indicated by the green trend lines. These lines converge at about 1.8% in 2028. Make of it what you will.



Graph #1

Graph updated 2 Jan 2012.

1 comment:

Jazzbumpa said...

Wow. You went deep in the archives to pull that quote. I was just starting to look at data then - almost 3 years ago, had no idea what conclusions to draw, and still implicitly believed the canard that Republicans were the party of fiscal responsibility.

Cheers!
JzB