GDP – Nominal: 10-Year Rolling Components

Nominal GDP consists of real GDP plus inflation.  This chart presents the two components of nominal GDP for all 10-year periods since 1900.  The 10-year periods smooth some of the variability of economic growth and the inflation rate to display the contributions of each component over longer periods.  Of particular note, the loss of real economic growth during the 1930s was made up in subsequent decades thereby restoring the long-term trend of fairly stable real economic growth over time. Unlike the 1930s, it’s unclear if the economy over the next few decades will make up and return to its long-term average real rate of growth.