Is the United States in recession? If one looked solely at the adverse shocks that have hit the economy over the last year, one would infer an unusually high probability of a recession. If one consulted some of the most import economic measures over the last year, one would say the country clearly entered a recession last January. If one gauged the popular mood, one would hear, “Of course we are in recession !”
The one criterion that has been missing is the one criterion that people most commonly have in their minds as the definition of a recession: two consecutive quarters of negative growth. This morning, October 30, the Commerce Department released the advance estimate of GDP for the 3rd quarter. It showed a decline. The decline was small: just 0.3 per cent at an annual rate; and it is only one quarter, not yet two. But at this point there can be little doubt that we are really truly in recession.