Understanding Business Cycles

Free CFA Level I lesson in Economics. 14 min read, ~2,033 words.

Four phases: recovery, expansion, slowdown, contraction. Peak and trough are turning points, not phases. Credit cycles often amplify business cycles. Easy credit fuels booms; tight credit deepens busts. Inventory-to-sales ratio FALLS in early recovery (sales outpace stock) and RISES near a peak (sales fade). Housing leads: building permits and starts...

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