A Tough GDP Report, But Look At The Big Picture

A Tough GDP Report, But Look At The Big Picture by Polina Vlasenko, PhD, Senior Research Fellow – AIER

In the second quarter of 2016 the economy’s output, as measured by the Gross Domestic Product, grew at an annual rate of 1.2 percent, according to the advanced estimate released this morning by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. This is somewhat faster than the growth posted in the first quarter of the year, but still below the average growth seen in the previous two years, which exceeded 2 percent. The advanced estimate is based on preliminary and somewhat incomplete data, and will be revised in the coming months.

The growth during the second quarter was driven mostly by personal consumption...