Crisis and Recovery in the United States and the European UnionIn the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, aggregate output in the European Union and in the United States fell dramatically. Real GDP, shown here as an index with each economy’s peak precrisis quarter set to 100, declined by more than 5%. By late 2011, real GDP in the United States had only barely recovered to precrisis levels, and aggregate output in the European Union had still not reached its precrisis peak.
Sources: Bureau of Economic Analysis; Eurostat.