Since introducing my Road to Recovery feature, I've received several requests for an inflation-adjusted version. So here it is.

Even over this short time frame — a bit less than three years — inflation makes a difference. When we compare the nominal and real charts, the "real" Crash of 1929 is slightly less horrific (courtesy of deflation) and the other three rallies are less dramatic (reduced by inflation). The weaker recovery is especially evident in the rebound from the Oil Crisis, which, of course, was the era of stagflation (a portmanteau of "inflation" and "stagnation").