IEA Pocket Charts Panel A-4

Panel A-4
Household Credit Asset Cumulation and Money Supply (Credit Sources)
(% of Trend GNP, an 8-quarter centered moving average of actual GNP;
ratios calculated from current-$ values)

Note: The Monetary component will be added as soon as a conceptually and statistically adequate measure is available.

Presentation note: This chart, when presented at the same scale as the monthly charts, is too large to display in a format permitting a view of the entire time span. To solve the conflicting demands of span and clarity, we have presented the chart in several formats: To make it possible to see the full time-span on screen, the chart is shown below on this page at about half scale. At that small size (Web quality being what it is), the text is hard to read. So, to help you identify the chart series, we have added a legend box (at right). Its right-hand column diagrams the thin, thick, and dashed lines used to plot the data, and the type of shading (or lack thereof) between lines, to make it possible to associate the series names with those on the chart. A full-scale version is available separately. It allows full-scale viewing on screen (though you'll have to scroll across), and will print comfortably in landscape mode (if your browser allows you to specify a reduction factor of 50%). For printing full-size, the left and right halves (with a two-year overlap) have been made available separately. Once printed (you may need to use landscape mode) , join the two pages together.

General notes

This is one of 20 regular and a dozen periodic chart panels taken as a sample from the final issue -- December 1979 -- of the initial series of IEA Pocket Charts. The compact and analytically advanced economic charts feature the following analytical features:

1. "Flat horizontal" presentation, as growth rates or ratios to GDP -- to facilitate comparisons of different time periods and series
2. Fluctuations shaded to "normal" lines -- made possible by such presentation
3. Smoothing -- quarterly centered moving averages to eliminate "zig-zag noise"
4. Economic conditions displayed for context as vertical bands or lines (see Economic Fluctuations Viewed in Growth Perspective for definitions of these terms), clearly illustrated in chart Panel 1:
   • recessions by light shading
   • periods of stagnation by stippling
   • absolute "contractions" (as defined by NBER. the National Bureau of Economic Research) by dashed lines

A full guide to the presentation and analytical features of the charts -- an understanding of which is necessary for making full analytical use of the charts -- is available at How to Read IEA Charts.