- Jake If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.
Though in the US The NBER
uses a broader definition of a recession than do many economists. The traditional definition of a recession is two consecutive quarters of a shrinking gross domestic product (GDP).[3] In contrast, the NBER defines a recession as "a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP, real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales."[4]. Dates of recessions are determined by identifying the date of the most recent peak in GDP to the most recent trough in GDP. The duration of this negative trend in GDP is the length of the recession. Dates of economic expansion can be similarly determined.[5]
The problem with the conventional definition of recession is that policy is designed and evaluated on its GDP impact alone... The brainless should not be in banking. — Willem Buitler
