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The Recession of 1958, also known as the Eisenhower Recession, was a sharp worldwide economic downturn in 1958 (3). The effect of the recession spread beyond United States borders to Europe and Canada, causing many businesses, like the mining operation, to shut down (4). It was the most significant recession during the post-World War II boom between 1945 and 1970 and had a sharp economic decline that only lasted eight months. By the time recovery began in May of 1958, most lost ground had been regained. As 1958 ended, the economy was heading towards new high levels of employment and production. Overall, the recession was regarded as a moderate one based on the duration and extent of declines in employment, production, and income (3). == Causes == There were many major factors in the decline that exerted a growing downward pressure on production and employment, resulting in a general reduction of economic activity (3). * New car sales took a sharp dive. Auto sales fell 31% over 1957, making 1958 the worst auto year since World War II (3). In just three short years, car sales fell from almost 8 million purchases in 1955 to 4.3 million purchases in 1958. Ford Motor Company’s failure of the Edsel was a major contribution to this problem within the industry (2). In an effort to overcome declining auto sales, one of the hardest hit sectors of the slump, the Beyer DeSoto dealership of St. Louis put its salesmen on duty for 64 hours straight, as part of a sell-a-thon that raised sales 73% (4). * Housing construction slowed due to higher interest rates in 1955 and 1956. By 1957, new house construction had fallen to about 1.2 million units (2). * There was a gradual decrease in incoming business of capital goods industries (3), which resulted in the ending of an expansive boom. The initial trouble began in 1956 with a deceleration in business planning for replacement of equipment and expansion of manufacturing facilities, resulting in a drop in new orders for equipment (2). This created a widening gap between the supply and the use of industrial capacity (3). Federal Reserve economists believed that the administration had contributed to the recession by cutting back on Department of Defense purchases in 1957 (2). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Recession of 1958」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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