Well, this really depends on what it means for an economy to expand. The metric that most people seem to use is the sum of all transactions occurring in that ec

Well, this really depends on what it means for an economy to expand. The metric that most people seem to use is the sum of all transactions occurring in that economy, denominated in a currency. In the philosophical sense of economy, where transactions are not necessarily tied to physical units of currency, expanding can mean pretty much anything, from more participants and transactions to goodwill gained through personal relationships. In the physical reality of the US economy, expanding economy really only means more money or more transaction volume.