The U.S. has undergone two of its most wrenching economic downturns within just a dozen years: the 2008 financial crisis and the coronavirus pandemic. How do the two recoveries compare?
Both recessions imposed sickening costs. The 2008 crisis precipitated a drop in gross domestic product of 4.0 percent from the fourth quarter of 2007 to the bottom in the second quarter of 2009. The coronavirus pandemic triggered a shorter, sharper drop of 10.1 percent from the last quarter of 2019 to the second quarter of 2020. Since GDP data only come out quarterly, monthly economic statistics provide a basis for comparing the Trump-Pence and Obama-Biden recoveries.