After not playing baseball for 3 years in college because of having a total hip replacement, and then coming back to play professionally once I graduated, and get the opportunity to play on a team like the @wcthunderbolts we had in 2007 and 2008...it was like a dream come true. This was a night I will never forget.
During this period, the average expansion was approximately 58 months, and the average contraction was approximately 11 months. Expansion is the default mode of the U.S. economy, and the average expansion time period has continued to average longer over time.
Most economists, however, do not think there is. As Figure 1 shows, expansions and recessions occur at irregular intervals and last for varying lengths of time. For example, there were three recessions between 1973 and 1982, but, then the 1982 trough was followed by eight years of uninterrupted expansion. The 1980 recession lasted just six months, while the 1981 recession lasted sixteen months.