, Columnist
Guess Which Presidents Really Oversaw Economic Booms
GDP growth is an imperfect measure of economic impact, but if you’re going to use it, here are the correct numbers.
Ah, the good ol’ days.
Source: National Archive/Newsmakers
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Growth in gross domestic product is an obviously flawed measure of a president’s economic record. Presidents often inherit good times or bad times from their predecessors, events entirely outside a president’s control can push growth up or down, and the most consequential presidential economic decisions often prove consequential only years after that president has left office.
Still, GDP growth isn’t the worst measure, either, and it is certainly being used a lot at the moment, so we might as well get it right.