INVESTMENT BUSINESS CYCLE: The notion that business cycles are caused by changes in business sector investment expenditures triggered by the natural ebb and flow of market conditions. This investment explanation of business cycle instability rests on the proposition that the seeds of each subsequent business-cycle phase are planted during the current phase. An expansion creates the conditions that cause a contraction and a contraction creates the conditions that cause an expansion. See also | business cycle | investment | expansion | contraction | peak | trough | shortage | surplus | unemployment | inflation | building cycle | fiscal policy | monetary policy | stabilization policies | political business cycle | circular flow | unemployment | inflation |
