EXPANSION: A phase of the business cycle characterized by a general period of rising economic activity. An expansion is one of two basic business cycle phases. The other is contraction. The transition from expansion to contraction is termed a peak and the transition from contraction to expansion is termed a trough. Expansions last an average of about 3-4 years, but this by no means not guaranteed. An expansion in the early 1980s lasted a mere 12 months. The next expansion then lasted over 8 years. Much of the 1960s was dedicated to a 106-month expansion, almost 9 years.

     See also | business cycle | prosperity | contraction | peak | trough | real gross domestic product | full employment | unemployment rate | inflation | investment | consumption | investment business cycle | political business cycle |

EXPANSION, AmosWEB GLOSS*arama, http://www.AmosWEB.com, AmosWEB LLC, 2000-2025. [Accessed: July 8, 2025].

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The total income received by the members of the domestic household sector, which may or may not be earned from productive activities during a given period of time, usually one year. Personal income (PI) is one of three measures of income reported in the National Income and Product Accounts maintained by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The other two are national income (NI) and disposable income (DI). Two related measures of production are gross domestic product (GDP) and net domestic product (NDP). The primary use of personal income is to measure the income actually paid out to the household sector. After adjusting for income taxes, personal income forms the basis for consumption expenditures on gross domestic product.

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