Phases of the business cycle: expansion, peak, contraction, recession, trough and recovery

An example figure from the Business Cycle generator.

Business cycle graph with Real GDP up the side, Time along the bottom and no numbers on the axes: a blue wave of real GDP around a dashed, upward-sloping trend line, with two high points labeled Peak and a low point labeled Trough; on the fall after the first peak, an arrow from above labeled Contraction and an arrow from below labeled Recession; on the rise after the trough, arrows labeled Recovery near the trough and Expansion near the second peak; and an arrow up to the dashed line labeled Long-run trend — Every term of the business cycle on one graph of real GDP over time. Real GDP rises to a peak, falls to a trough and rises to a second, higher peak, around a dashed line labeled Long-run trend. The fall is labeled both Contraction, from above, and Recession, from below, two names for the same phase, and the rise is labeled Recovery just after the trough and Expansion nearer the second peak.

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