Kondratief cycle

long-wave cycle

a theoretical long-term cycle ranging from boom to recession over a period of fifty years or so upon which shorter-term BUSINESS CYCLES are superimposed. Based upon statistical observations by Kondratief, explanations for these long waves in economic activity usually rely upon a ‘bunching’ of significant INNOVATIONS like petrol engines, the motor car, etc., which give an impetus to economic activity for several decades before their impact wanes.

Collins Dictionary of Economics, 4th ed. © C. Pass, B. Lowes, L. Davies 2005

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business cycle

References in periodicals archive

Atkinson views the Great Depression as the consequence of the exhaustion of one of these technological Kondratief cycles. He interprets the collapse of productivity growth between 1973 and 1995 as the consequence of the exhaustion of the regime that followed the depression, a regime based on large-scale industrial corporations, long-term employment relations, high levels of union membership, corporate planning and pricing power, and the use of what was formerly called military Keynesianism to assure a high level of capacity utilization and low to moderate unemployment rates.

The Past and Future of America's Economy: Long Waves of Innovation That Power Cycles of Growth

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