Macroeconomics 12th Edition by Rudiger Dornbusch ,Stanley Fischer,Richard Startz

Exercise 2

While the Great Recession was very bad, it was not nearly as bad as the Great Depression. Let's verify this by looking at real GDP data.
a. Go to http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2 and click on "Categories," under "National Income Product Accounts" select "GDP/GNP." Find and download data for annual real GDP starting in 1929.
b. Calculate and graph the annual change in GDP.
c. Now calculate and graph the percent change in GDP for each year.
d. Calculate the total GDP loss and the percent GDP loss for the two periods (1930-1933 and 2008-2009). Which appears to have been more severe, the Great Depression or the Great Recession