Figure17-6Crisis and Recovery in Canada, the U.S., and the European Union In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, aggregate output in Canada, the European Union, and the United States fell dramatically. Real GDP, shown here as an index with each economy’s peak pre-crisis quarter set to 100, declined by more than 4%. Canadian real GDP returned to its pre-crisis level by the fourth quarter of 2010; the United States recovered to pre-crisis levels in the fourth quarter of 2011; as of the third quarter of 2012 though, aggregate output in the European Union had still not reached its pre-crisis peak. Sources: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis; OECD; Statistics Canada.