The Recession Blogger
Are We Heading Towards The Great Depression?

Defining an Economic Recession

0

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

The United States has been experiencing economic recession since early of the year 2008. Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania are also at risk of facing economic recession for the next 12 months. While Canada, Britain and Japan may foresee a recession in their economy in the future.

With all this recession risks, ordinary people, could not help but wonder what exactly is an economic recession.

The is that when an economy is strong, people are employed and earning. There will be a great demand for outputs like food, electronics, vehicles and other products. The production will increase until it exceeds the actual demand. This would create a rise in prices or .

Salary would then have difficulty accommodating the rising prices of products. The prices will be too expensive for consumers, that they will stop buying or sales would not increase. When the demand decreases, companies will lay off workers creating a large population of unemployed work force.

These are several signs of an economic recession. Decline in housing prices, decline in the stock market, and business expansion plans being put on hold are also signs of a recession.

According to the United States , it is “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.”

Economic recession is a contraction phase of the . The common definition for recession is that there is a relative decline in a country’s or GDP. Having a negative real economic growth for two or more successive quarters is also a telltale sign for economic recession.

is the market value of all the products and services produced in a region or commonly, country, in a year. GDP is the total output of the economy. GDP is measured every quarter. Since the or the output is declining. There is less need for people who are creating the product. Firms and companies will sever their ties with several employees resulting to unemployment.

A severe or long recession could be an economic depression. The difference between recession and depression is when the GDP is declining by 10%, that means what the economy is experiencing is already depression. A short –lived recession is often called economic correction.

Based on the definition of the (NBER), recession can last “more than a few months.” Therefore, an official announcement that a country or region is experiencing recession can only be made after economic decline for six months. Typically, a normal economic recession lasts for approximately one year.

Periodic recessions are part of a country’s or region’s economy. According to Tom Harris (How Recession Works), the United States has an economic pattern. The United States economy will expand for six until ten years and then enter a recession for about six months or two years. The start of the recession is called the peak, end of recession if trough. Meanwhile the period of time between two peaks or two recessions is called the .

NBER, a private, non profit research organization studies the American economy. The Dating Committee maintains the chronology of . They also decides whether the economy is in recession or expansion

Economists may argue with the definition of an economic recession. They may even debate whether the United States, specifically is experiencing an economic downturn. But it is not only the economists who can decide and identify an economic downfall, it is the ordinary people who can readily identify economic growth and demise.

Tags: , , , ,

Related posts

Posted by Admin on October 16th, 2008 :: Filed under recession
Tags :: , , , , ,

Behind the Hitch: The Causes of Economic Recession

0
CIA World Factbook 2007 figures of total nomin...

Image via Wikipedia

An in which a country’s or output is sustaining a negative growth for at least two consecutive quarters or six months is called an economic recession. For the (NBER), “recession is a significant decline in economic activity lasting more than a few months”.

Economic recession lasts for eleven months and may reach until two years. While a recession that is short lived is called economic correction. Meanwhile a sustained recession turns into a depression.

What causes recessions to happen?

There are complex reasons as well as simple reasons why happen. states that there are “animal spirits” as driving elements for a recession. “Animal spirits” could be confidence, uncertainty, and pessimism. These “animal spirits” prevent objectivity and quantitative analysis.

An example where these “animal spirits” take over, is when consumers lose interest on products and outputs. On the eve of an economic recession, there will be overproduction. Supply will exceed the demands of products and goods.

This will push companies to increase prices and consumers will lose confidence and will be uncertain in purchasing products. Until the event that consumers will stop buying. Another example for this element driving recession will be the psychological impact the events of the September 11 attacks on consumers and the people.

Some economists suggest that recession may not only be caused by events that have large or huge impact on the people. Events that hurt particular companies or industries can also cause recession. Major innovations or change in a price of a major component needed in the completion of the product can have dramatic effects on some firms. These may cause reduction of workers or production.

can also be a cause of recession. Spending more that what is necessary may lead to recession and poverty. And example will be the major fuss over the expenditure of the United States in the Iraq war. Economists are saying that the United States should be careful with their consumption in the future.

Government economic policies can be used to avoid economic recession. But failure to provide good economic policies can lead to recession. There are some errors that can be made in economic policies. There are some economic policies that can lead to a boom and bust. This means that the economy is running in an unsustainable pace. is increasing.

Another policy error is that the policymakers themselves are not attentive enough to see the increasing and onset of recession. Policymakers often times regard the onset of recession as just a slow economic growth and will correct themselves. But failure to address this may lead to more economic disasters.

Economic recession is not just a United States issue. The United Nations expressed an alarm that there might be a global economic recession as early as January 2008. According to United Nations, world economic growth for 2008 is estimated to be on 3.4 percent, flowing from the down trend since 2006 (3.9 percent) and 2007 (3.7 percent).

The bursting of the housing market bubble of the United States and the unfolding credit crisis of other countries are some contributing factors for a global recession. Currently, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania are in risk of experiencing economic recession due to credit crisis.

To summarize, economic recession can be brought about by external as well as internal economic shocks and widening imbalances in the economy. Numerous ways can cause recession. Steps can be undertaken to avoid altogether this kind of economic scenario to happen. But the most difficult part is to recover from the impacts of this economic turmoil.

Tags: , , , ,

Related posts

Posted by Admin on October 15th, 2008 :: Filed under economy
Tags :: , , , , ,