Therecession of 1949 was a downturn in theUnited States lasting for 11 months. According to theNational Bureau of Economic Research, therecession began in November 1948 and lasted until October 1949.^[1]

The 1949 recession was a brief economic downturn; forecasters of the time expected much worse, perhaps influenced bythe poor economy in their recent lifetime.^[2] The recession began shortly afterPresident Truman's "Fair Deal" economic reforms. Many^[who?] regard the aftermath of the end of World War II to be the main cause of the recession. According to C. A. Blyth, "the most important cause of 1948–1949 recession was substantial fall in the fixed investments".^[3] The recession also followed a period of monetary tightening by theFederal Reserve.^[4]

During this recession, thegross domestic product of the United States fell 1.7%. In October 1949, the unemployment rate peaked at 7.9%.^[5] Department store sales fell 22%. The wholesale price and cost of living indexes fell 12 and 5 points respectively.^[6]

• Friedman, Milton;Schwartz, Anna J. (1993) [1963].A Monetary History of the United States, 1867–1960. Chicago:University of Chicago Press. pp. 604–610.ISBN 978-0691003542.
• Meltzer, Allan H. (2003).A History of the Federal Reserve – Volume 1: 1913–1951. Chicago:University of Chicago Press. pp. 667–681.ISBN 978-0226520001.
• Bremner, Robert P. (2004).Chairman of the Fed: William McChesney Martin Jr. and the Creation of the American Financial System.New Haven, CT:Yale University Press. pp. 69–72.ISBN 978-0300105087.

• Recessions in the United States
• 1949 in economic history
• 1948 in economic history
• 1948 in the United States
• 1949 in the United States
• Presidency of Harry S. Truman

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• All articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases
• Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from November 2018