Using Table 8.1 (NBER business cycles), identify the longest and shortest expansion and contraction in the United States from December 1854 to November 2001. What are your thoughts about the periodicity and persistence of U.S. business cycles?

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TABLE 8.1 NBER BUSINESS CYCLE DATES Source: NBER website. Trough Dec. 1854 Dec. 1858 June 1861 Dec. 1867 Dec. 1870 Mar. 1879 May 1885 Apr. 1888 May 1891 June 1894 June 1897 Dec. 1900 Aug. 1904 June 1908 Jan. 1912 Dec. 1914 Mar. 1919 July 1921 July 1924 Nov. 1927 Mar. 1933 June 1938 Oct. 1945 Oct. 1949 May 1954 Apr. 1958 Feb. 1961 Nov. 1970 Mar. 1975 July 1980 Nov. 1982 Mar. 1991 Nov. 2001 June 2009 www.nber.org/cycles/main.html Expansion (months from trough to peak) 30 22 46 (Civil War) 18 34 36 22 27 20 18 24 21 33 19 12 44 (WWI) 10 22 27 21 50 80 (WWII) 37 45 (Korean War) 39 24 106 (Vietnam War) 36 58 12 92 120 73 Peak June 1857 Oct. 1860 Apr. 1865 June 1869 Oct. 1873 Mar. 1882 Mar. 1887 July 1890 Jan. 1893 Dec. 1895 June 1899 Sept. 1902 May 1907 Jan. 1910 Jan. 1913 Aug. 1918 Jan. 1920 May 1923 Oct. 1926 Aug. 1929 May 1937 Feb. 1945 Nov. 1948 July 1953 Aug. 1957 Apr. 1960 Dec. 1969 Nov. 1973 Jan. 1980 July 1981 July 1990 Mar. 2001 Dec. 2007 Contraction (months from peak to trough) 18 8 32 18 65 38 13 10 17 18 18 23 13 24 23 7 18 14 13 43 (Depression) 13 (Depression) 8 H2%DHK 00000000 | 11 10 8 10 11 16 6 16 8 8 18