HUD USER

The precision available in an analysis of local (county) responses to business cycle fluctuations is seriously limited by the nature of the available data. Although the data available for counties provide detail on the various sources of income (labor earnings, property income,etc.) and considerable industrial detail for wages and salaries and proprietors' income, these data are only available on an annual basis. Since business cycles in post World War II years have experienced recessions of only two to five months' duration, the available data do not have sufficient temporal resolution to permit precise measurement of economic fluctuations, especially for short recessions that are contained entirely within a single year.