“What’s the difference between a recession and a depression? A recession is when your neighbour loses their job; a depression is when you lose yours.”

In Western economies, recessions are unusual. Take the world’s largest economy the United States - it has suffered only two official downturns, in 1990-91 and 2001. When they happen, they tend to be short-lived lasting perhaps no more than two or three years. If a country fails to emerge from a downturn then it is likely to be in a deeper depression. This revision note is designed for AS and A2 economists and links in with other recent blog entries on “cycles and shocks” and “recession watch” written by my other colleagues on the blog team.

Revision note:
Revision_Recession_Causes.pdf