Cash transfers should however capture most of the variability of total social expenditures in a downturn as cyclical changes in services spending (especially health, the largest component) tend to be relatively small, delayed and short-lived (Scherer and Devaux, 2010). Returning to 2007 benefit expenditure levels would have reduced the deficit as well, but by much less (less than 3 percentage points). The United States once again shows a similar pattern as Southern and English-speaking EU countries: revenue shortfalls are a significantly bigger driver of deficits in the early phases of the downturn than are higher benefit expenditures. ( Declining revenues were also the main factor behind deficits in Nordic countries but deficits there were comparatively small.)