The Economics of Credit
Third Quarter GDP Grows 4.9%
December 20, 2007
Real gross domestic product increases for third consecutive quarter in 2007.
In spite of what you may be hearing, reading or feeling, the U.S. economy is growing, not receding, and at a rather brisk pace based on the finalized figures released earlier today from the U.S. Commerce Department.
Gross domestic product -- the total output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States -- increased at an annual rate of 4.9% in the third quarter 2007, according to final estimates released by the Bureau of Economic Statistics, according to a press release issued by the Commerce Department.
Exports, personal consumption expenditures (PCE), private inventory investment, nonresidential structures, federal government spending and equipment and software were cited in the release as the main contributors. More specifically, computer sales contributed .28 percentage points to the third quarter growth after contributing .21 percentage points in the second quarter, according to the press release.
This is the third straight quarter that GDP has increased from the previous quarter having increased 3.8% and .6% in the second and third quarters of 2007 respectively. The 4.9% increase is the highest quarterly increase since a 7.5% increase back in the third quarter of 2003.
