Though the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) has yet to classify the current economic slump as a “recession,” most commentators would agree that the economy is heading in that direction. Martin Feldstein, Professor of Economics at Harvard University, recently noted that, “we have been sliding into recession [and]…I think it could go on longer than the last two recessions (which) lasted eight months peak to trough.” With a presidential election knocking on our door, coupled with Professor Feldstein’s grim outlook for America’s economy, it is important to analyze our recent economic and political history, specifically with regards to recession, in order to match any correlations from the past with the present. Such an analysis may offer clues as to whether or not we are currently in an economic recession and provide direction for our current and future political. Salesjunction
Sampleemails This article does not intend to be a comprehensive exploration of America’s economic and political history; such an analysis is beyond its scope. It does intend however to make certain connections between the U.S. economic recessions of past 30 years and draw some conclusions about where America’s economy and politics may be heading. Officially there have been four U.S. recessions in the last 30 years – each with distinct economic and political ramifications. This article details give a brief overview of the recession of the early 1980s. Three subsequent articles will provide the same level of respective analysis for the recessions in the late 1980s, the 1990s and at the beginning of the 21st century, with a fifth and final article detailing any correlations with the current economic recession. Creationsfromeden
Before going further, it is important to provide a working definition of “recession.” Recession has been commonly defined as a decline in a country’s GDP coupled with negative economic growth for two or more successive quarters. This definition is tenuous however, as it causes numerous theoretical problems, not least of which is the problem of identifying when a recession begins and when it ends; if a recession begins in the third month of the second quarter, does that mean the entire quarter is in a recessed mode? A less troublesome way of thinking about recession is presented by LakshmanAchuthan and Anirvan Banerji of the Economic Cycle Research Institute. They state, “A recession is a self reinforcing downturn in economic activity, when a drop in spending leads to cutbacks in production and then jobs, triggering a loss of income that spreads across the country from industry to industry, hurting sales and in turn feeding back into a further drop in production – in effect, a vicious cycle.” This is the definition of recession used here. Ramza
On October 18, 1981 President Ronald Reagan declared that America’s economy was in a “slight recession.” This may have been an understatement, as many economists would agree that, at the time, it was the worst recession since the Great Depression. Though Reagan had not been in office when the economy began to take a nose dive in the 1970s, the negative growth in the housing, steel, manufacturing, and automotive industries cast a dark shadow over the rest of the economy and, consequently, the Gipper’s popularity. Reagan had ridden a wave of
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