are business cycles predictable 
generally business cycles are not predictable economies are complex machines that function in a variety of ways and are intertwined in as many ways the ability to predict how they will move is extremely difficult there can be signs of changes in an economy such as changes in inflation and production but to predict an all out change in the business cycle is very tough if not impossible the bottom linethe business cycle is the time it takes the economy to go through all four phases of the cycle expansion peak contraction and trough expansions are times of increasing profits for businesses and rising economic output and are the phase the u s economy spends the most time in contractions are times of decreasing profits and lower output and are the phase in which the least amount of time is spent 