U.S. Credit Cycles: Past and Present1

A Brief Timeline for Financial Stabilization Policies Over 2007-2009 

Since the fall of 2007, Congress, the Federal Reserve, Treasury, Federal Deposit Insurance 

Corporation and other agencies have implemented various policies to support financial stability. 

These policies, which have been aimed at improving market functioning and facilitating access 

to credit by households and businesses, are summarized in the brief timeline for financial 

stabilization policies over 2007-09. 2 Importantly, these policies were implemented over an 18-

month period and in many cases dealt with different aspects of the unfolding financial crisis. To 

appropriately assess the current credit cycle, it is critical to keep in mind the timing of these 

policy actions. 

U.S. Credit Cycles: Past and Present

An important question is whether policies to support financial stability have led to more lending 

than would have been the case had those policies not been implemented. Of course, it is too 

early to gauge the influence of policy on the economy's evolution through the financial crisis. It 

is difficult to do this with precision in general, and it is especially difficult to undertake analysis 

so soon after the events have occurred with so little data since the policy implementation. 

However, what we can do is look at how credit volumes have evolved, and ask whether this 

information is at least suggestive that the policies that we have implemented have worked to 

avert a far more severe and detrimental outcome. We compare the evolving path of credit in the 

current economic downturn to previous business cycle downturns -- as identified by the National 

Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) Business Cycle Dating Committee -- to provide some 

perspective on the effectiveness of the policies. For this purpose, previous business cycle 

downturns that have been associated with banking-sector problems and in turn have led to credit 

crunches seem to be the most appropriate benchmarks. 

A credit crunch, according to the White House Council of Economic Advisers, “occurs 

when the supply of credit is restricted below the range usually identified with prevailing market 

interest rates and the profitability of investment projects.”3

 Judging whether a credit crunch is 

happening in real time -- and to some extent even in hindsight -- is not easy as it is extremely 

difficult to sort out the relative importance on the flow of credit of reduced demand due to 

weaker economic activity, reduced supply because borrowers appear less creditworthy, or 

reduced supply because lenders face pressures, such as a shortage of capital, that restrain them 

from extending credit. In other words, while demand considerations could certainly result in a 

decline in credit flows, a reduction in the supply of credit -- caused either by bank balance sheet 

pressures or by banks’ reluctance to lend to less-creditworthy borrowers -- could produce the 

same result. 

 

1

 Prepared by Rochelle Edge and Diana Hancock, Federal Reserve Board. The views expressed here are our own 

and should not be attributed to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System or other members of its staff. 

2

 For a market-by-market analysis of the programs discussed in this section see E. Duke, 2009, “Containing the 

Crisis and Promoting Economic Recovery.” Remarks at the Women in Housing and Finance Annual Meeting, 

Washington, D.C., June 15. 

3

 Council of Economic Advisers (1992), Economic Report of the President (Washington: Government Printing 

Office), p. 46. 
- 2 -
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Anecdotal evidence as well as some academic research suggests that the recessions that 

followed the business cycle peaks of 1969:Q4, 1973:Q4, 1981:Q3 and 1990:Q3 were creditcrunch recessions.4

 Clearly, the current downturn -- specifically, that following the 2007:Q4 

business-cycle peak -- is also considered a credit-crunch recession 

How has credit evolved this business cycle? 

Growth of the broad credit aggregates:

The Federal Reserve’s Flow of Funds accounts are a useful source for considering the 

evolution of credit in both the current and past business-cycle downturns. Specifically, these 

accounts provide more than a half-century of data on a large number of credit aggregates 

including the four major types of credit -- home mortgages, commercial mortgages, consumer 

credit, and nonfinancial business credit. 5 Interestingly, when one considers the percent 

deviation from trend for “household and nonfinancial business sector lending” -- the sum of 

these four types of credit -- over the last 50 years, the run-up in lending prior to the most recent

business cycle peak and its drop-off during the current downturn are not as great as the run-up 

and drop-off in private lending around the 1990 business cycle peak (figure 1, left panel). 

Moreover, if only the lending provided by depositories, that is commercial banks, savings 

institutions, and credit unions, is considered, the deviation from trend was much smaller prior to 

the most recent business cycle peak compared with deviations from trend prior to business

peaks in 1973:Q4, 1981:Q3, 1990:Q3, and 2001:Q1 (figure 1, right panel).

 cycle 

 that 

07:Q4. 

 

6

 This suggests

the aggregate growth in these four types of credit was not particularly untoward prior to the 

business cycle peak in 20

4

 Kaufman (1991) cites credit crunches that occurred in 1959, 1969-70, the mid-1970s, 1981-82, and 1990-91. See 

H. Kaufman, 1991, “Credit Crunches: The Deregulators Were Wrong,” Wall Street Journal, October 9. See also A. 

Wojnilower, 1980, “The Central Role of Credit Crunches in Recent Financial History,” Brookings Papers on 

Economic Activity, v.2, pp. 277-326. For recessions typically identified as credit crunches, the Federal Reserve’s 

Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey of Bank Lending Practices measure of the willingness to make consumer loans 

declines either just prior to, or contemporaneously with, the business cycle peak as identified by the NBER. 5

 In this figure and the ones that follow, (1) home mortgages are loans secured by one-to-four-family properties, 

including second mortgages on properties of these types, loans taken out under home equity lines of credit, 

mortgages held by households under seller-financing arrangements, and construction and land development loans 

associated with one- to four-family residences; (2) commercial mortgages are loans secured by nonfarm 

nonresidential properties, including properties owned by nonprofit organizations such as universities, hospitals, and 

churches; (3) consumer credit consists of short-term and intermediate-term loans to individuals, such as loans for the 

purchase of automobiles and mobile homes, and secured and unsecured loans for furniture, boats, trailers, 

appliances, education, and vacations; and (4) nonfinancial credit is loans to businesses in three sectors: nonfarm 

nonfinancial corporate business, nonfarm non-corporate business, and farm business. 

6

 Note that the data for depositories shown in the right panel of figure 1 as well as figures 5 and 7 also use the Flow 

of Funds Accounts. 
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Figure 2 presents (seasonally adjusted) four-quarter growth rates for each of these credit 

types from 1952 to 2008, where the shaded areas denote NBER recession periods. As can be 

seen from the figure, credit growth typically declines prior to and during economic downturns; 

and this time-series pattern is readily apparent in the current downturn in all four panels. 

In the current downturn, the reduction in lending growth that stands out as being the most 

“out-of-the-ordinary” is home mortgages, which is shown in the top left panel. Home-mortgages 

contracted for the first time in the Flow of Fund’s fifty-plus year history over the four quarters 

ended 2008:Q4, after having always remained above 4 percent. In terms of being an outlier 

relative to past business-cycles, the current experience for home mortgages is similar to that of 

commercial mortgages in the downturn following the 1990:Q3 business cycle peak, which is 

shown in the top right panel. 
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In the downturn following the 1990:Q3 business cycle peak, commercial mortgage 

volumes contracted after having never contracted (in nominal terms) before that. That downturn 

also included a financial crisis, although then it was due to commercial real estate rather than 

residential real estate as it is now. Given the similarities between these two business-cycle 

downturns, it seems interesting to compare them. 

A comparison of the current downturn with that which followed the 1990:Q3 peak:

Figure 3, which has the same layout as figure 2, provides “butterfly charts” for inflationand seasonally adjusted levels of four different types of lending -- home mortgages (top left 

panel), consumer credit (bottom left panel), commercial mortgages (top right panel), and 

nonfinancial business credit (bottom right panel) -- over the current downturn and the downturn 

that followed the 1990:Q3 business-cycle peak.7

 The series in the charts have been normalized 

to 100 at each business-cycle peak, which is also marked with the vertical bar. The 

normalization of each series is also made so that the difference between the level of a lending 

series at any date and the level at the business cycle peak has a percentage interpretation. For 

example, if a line has a value of 80 at some date before or after the business-cycle peak, it means 

that the level of the category of lending that the line represents is 20 percent below the level of 

lending at the business-cycle peak. Likewise if a line has a value of 110 at some date it means 

 

7

 Over 2004 to 2009, home mortgages, consumer credit, commercial mortgages, and nonfinancial business credit 

were 58 percent, 14 percent, 12 percent, and 16 percent of household and nonfinancial business sector lending, 

respectively. 
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that the level of the category of lending that the line represents is 10 percent above the level of 

lending at the peak of the business cycle. 

Normalized lending data for quarters prior to and after each business cycle peak are 

color-coded in figure 3 to each peak. Data associated with the 1990:Q3 peak are shown using 

thick dark green lines, and data associated with the recent 2007:Q4 peak are shown using thick 

red lines. Activity to the left represents the 16 quarters leading up to the peak and the activity to 

the right represents the 8 quarters following the peak. A steeper line to the left of the vertical bar 

implies higher credit growth prior to the peak; a more negatively-sloped line to the right of the 

vertical bar implies a larger reduction in credit during the downturn. 

The right side of the figure considers commercial mortgages (top panel) and nonfinancial 

business credit (bottom panel). Both of these lending aggregates expanded more rapidly in the 

lead up to the 2007:Q4 business-cycle peak than they did in the lead up to the 1990:Q3 peak and 

both also contracted (or continued to contract) immediately after the 1990:Q3 business-cycle 

peak. Until recently neither of these lending aggregates had declined in the current downturn but 

in the first quarter of this year nonfinancial business credit contracted to a level only slightly 

above that of 2007:Q4.8

 

For consumer credit (in the lower left panel), it matters -- in the lead up to the peak -- 

how we measure it. Without home equity lines of credit (HELOCs), and home equity loans, the 

 

8

 The business cycle peak for the current downturn was in 2007:Q4, but the economy continued to grow in the first 

half of 2008. This growth may account for some of the growth in lending aggregates after the business cycle peak. 
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increase in consumer credit in the lead up to the 1990:Q3 and 2007:Q4 business-cycle peaks are 

broadly similar.9

 If we include all HELOCs and home equity loans, which can be used in a 

similar way to consumer credit, lending in the lead up to the 2007:Q4 business-cycle peak -- 

represented by the thin red line -- increases more notably.10 Consumer credit contracted 

following the 1990:Q3 business-cycle peak, but has remained broadly flat since the 2007:Q4 

peak, albeit with a slight downward drift in more recent quarters. 

For home mortgages, shown in the top left panel, lending expanded similarly in the lead 

up to the 1990:Q3 and 2007:Q4 business-cycle peaks. This type of lending did not contract 

following the 1990:Q3 peak, but has contracted since 2007:Q4. 

Apart from home mortgages, the drop off in credit following the 1990:Q3 business cycle 

peak was notably more severe than what has been experienced so far in the current downturn. Of 

course, there are two possible reasons why this might happen. One is that demand for credit 

turned down more sharply following the 1990:Q3 business-cycle peak than in the current 

downturn. However, the slowdown in economic activity following the 1990:Q3 business-cycle 

peak was nowhere near as severe (either in terms of depth or duration) as it has been to date in 

the current recession, which the NBER considers and recent data suggests is still ongoing.11 

This difference in the magnitudes of changes in economic growth suggests that it is unlikely 

credit demand contracted more sharply in the 1990-91 recession than in the current downturn. 

The other possible reason, which is more likely, is that credit supply conditions have been a little 

more favorable -- albeit still stressful -- in the most recent downturn relative to the downturn that 

followed the 1990:Q3 business-cycle peak. This difference likely reflects the fact that numerous 

facilities and programs have been put in place to shore up the financial sector and thereby the 

flow of credit to prevent a notably more severe contraction in credit than we have seen. 

that 

 

A comparison of the current downturn with other credit-crunch recessions that occurred within 

the last forty years:

Figure 4 provides “butterfly charts” for the same four inflation and seasonally adjusted 

levels of credit as shown earlier albeit now around the last five business cycle peaks that 

preceded credit-crunch recessions; specifically the business-cycle peaks of 1969:Q4, 1973:Q4, 

1981:Q3, 1990:Q3, and 2007:Q4. Data associated with the recent 2007:Q4 peak continue to be 

shown using thick red lines. Data associated with the 1990:Q3 peak are now shown using thin 

dark green lines. 

Figure 4 indicates that -- with the exception of home mortgages -- lending over the 

current downturn does not appear particularly weak or subdued relative to other downturns. 

Indeed, for all categories of lending other than home-mortgage lending (shown in the top left 

panel), there are at least two other downturns for which the paths of lending after the businesscycle peak lie below that following 2007:Q4 (that is, the drop-off in credit was more 

pronounced). Even for home mortgages, however, the decline in lending is not tremendously 

large relative to the experience of past business-cycle downturns. In contrast, over the downturn 

following the 1990:Q3 business cycle peak (shown using dark green lines), lending -- with the 

9

 Note that HELOCs and home equity loans are included in home mortgages in all of the figures that provide 

“butterfly charts” as is the case in the Flow of Funds data for home mortgages. 

10 Note that cash-out refinancing – like HELOCs and home equity loans – can also be used in a similar way to 

consumer credit; it is not, however, included in the chart. 11 In fact, real economic growth was negative during 2009:Q1. 
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exception of home mortgages -- experienced either the largest or the second-largest contraction 

of all credit-crunch associated downturns. 

This feature is even more prominent when only lending by depositories is considered. 

Figure 5 has the same format as figure 4, but presents time-series data on lending by depository 

institutions; that is, commercial banks, savings institutions, and credit unions.12 Figure 5 

indicates that lending by depositories over the current downturn does not appear particularly 

weak or subdued relative to other downturns. Indeed, for all components of credit other than 

home mortgages the path of lending in the current downturn lies toward the upper end of the 

range of outcomes for past business-cycle downturns. Moreover, when home mortgages by just 

depositories is considered, the path for lending lies within the range of outcomes for past 

business-cycle downturns (albeit toward the lower part of the envelope). 

 

12 Over 2004 to 2009, home mortgages, consumer credit, commercial mortgages, and nonfinancial business credit 

were 39 percent, 14 percent, 15 percent, and 32 percent of the household and nonfinancial business sector lending by 

depositories, respectively. 
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Given the enormity of some of the events of the past year, the findings of these businesscycle comparison exercises -- particularly for depository institutions -- may seem somewhat 

surprising. However, policy has been extremely active in the current credit crisis, especially 

with respect to the banking sector; for example, the Federal Reserve has expanded its liquidity 

programs, the U.S. government as part of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act has 

distributed about $200 billion through its Capital Purchase Program, and there has been 

temporary extensions of several government safety net policies, for example, raising of the basic 

limit on federal deposit insurance coverage from $100,000 to $250,000 per depositor and 

guaranteeing newly issued senior unsecured debt of banks, thrifts, and holding companies. 

Given the similarities between home mortgages in the current downturn and commercial 

mortgages in the downturn following the 1990:Q3 business cycle peak, the outcomes for lending 

following the 1990:Q3 business cycle peak could be thought of as a possible scenario for lending 

in the current downturn in the absence of any policy response. That said, the likely path of 

lending in the current downturn without any policy response would have been notably more 

contractionary than after 1990:Q3 given that the earlier episode -- while characterized by a 

financial crisis -- did not face as extreme an episode as was experienced last September. 

A comparison of the current downturn with the two other recessions that occurred within the last 

forty years: 

Figure 6 provides “butterfly charts” for the same four inflation and seasonally adjusted 

levels of credit as shown earlier in figure 4, but also includes information around the business 

cycle peaks that preceded the two recessions not typically associated with credit crunches; 
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specifically the business-cycle peaks of 1980:Q1 and 2001:Q1. In figure 6, these two credit 

cycles are identified using blue and black dotted lines, rather than solid lines. Interestingly, the 

growth in commercial mortgages (top right panel), nonfinancial business credit (bottom right 

panel) and consumer credit (bottom left panel) that preceded the business-cycle peaks of 

1980:Q1 (the blue dotted line) and 2001:Q1 (the black dotted line) generally fall within the 

ranges of credit growth observed for the credit-crunch recessions. And with respect to the 

growth in home mortgage credit, shown in the top left panel, its growth prior to the 1980:Q1 and 

2001:Q1 business cycle peaks was about as rapid as its growth prior to the 1990:Q3 and 2007:Q4 

business cycle peaks. That said, the run-off in home mortgage credit in the current credit cycle is 

greater than in the two credit cycles not typically associated with credit crunches. 
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Figure 7 has the same format as figure 6, but presents time-series data on lending only by 

depositories. Figure 7 indicates that lending by depositories over the current downturn does not 

appear to be weak or subdued relative to other downturns whether or not such downturns are 

typically classified as credit crunch recessions. Indeed, even with the information from the 

business cycle peaks of 1980:Q1 and 2001:Q1 included, the path of lending in the current 

downturn for commercial mortgages (upper right panel), for nonfinancial business credit (bottom 

right panel), and for consumer credit (bottom left panel) is toward the upper end of the range of 

outcomes for past business cycle downturns. And with respect to home mortgages, shown in the 

top left panel, the path of lending by depositories lies well within the range of past outcomes 

over previous business cycles. 

Summary of Findings 

Using the Federal Reserve’s Flow of Funds, a comparison of the current credit cycle with 

past credit cycles over the last 50 years can be made. With the exception of nonfinancial 

business credit, the growth in lending prior to the most recent business cycle peak (i.e., 

2007:Q4), was within the bounds -- albeit toward the upper range -- of lending growth leading up 

to other business cycle peaks. Up through the first quarter of 2009, the latest data available, the 

contraction in commercial mortgages, in nonfinancial business credit, and in consumer credit 

does not appear to be particularly severe relative to contractions in these types of lending in other 

downturns. That said, the contraction in home mortgages in the current credit cycle is stronger 
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than in past downturns even though the growth of credit was very similar to that observed prior 

to the 1990:Q3 business cycle peak. 

 When only the credit provided by depositories is considered, the growth in lending prior 

to the most recent business cycle peak -- again with the exception of nonfinancial business credit 

-- was well within the bounds of lending growth by depositories leading up to other business 

cycle peaks that have occurred since 1953. And after the most recent business cycle peak, 

lending by depositories, which include commercial banks, savings institutions and credit unions, 

does not appear particularly weak or subdued relative to other downturns. Indeed for all 

components of credit other than home mortgages, the path of lending in the current downturn lies 

toward the upper-end of the range of outcomes for past business-cycle downturns. And with 

respect to home mortgages, the path of lending for depositories lies within the range of past 

outcomes. 

Given the enormity of events over the past year the overall finding that most categories of 

household and nonfinancial-firm lending in the current recession do not appear especially weak 

relative to past recessions seems at first surprising. However, it does appear indicative of the 

facilities and programs implemented by the Federal Reserve and other agencies having been 

broadly successful in relieving stresses in the key credit markets and maintaining the volume of 

aggregate credit in spite of these events. Note that, the comparisons of the paths of lending over 

different business cycle downturns laid out in this study do not account for differences in the 

severity of recessions. That said, because the current recession is already longer and deeper than 

the other downturns considered in the study, the conclusion that Federal Reserve and other 

agencies’ facilities and programs have acted to shore up credit availability would likely still hold 

even if differences in credit demand across recessions were accounted for. Finally, note that 

although the study documents differences and similarities in the paths of credit both prior to and 

after business cycle peaks, a direct association between the magnitudes of increases and 

subsequent decreases in credit volumes around business cycle peaks is not considered. An 

ocular review of the data does not immediately suggest that any strong relationship between the 

magnitudes of these changes exist, although clearly a more formal analysis would be beneficial.