Journal Article

Recessions and recoveries

Abstract: The U.S. recession that began in July 1990 may have ended in April or May 1991. The pace of the subsequent recovery has been so sluggish as to be indistinguishable, in the eyes of many, from continued recession. One explanation for the sluggish pace of the recovery is that the recession itself was not particularly severe, at least when compared with others. ; In this article, Mark Wynne and Nathan Balke use monthly data on industrial production to examine the hypothesis that the severity of a recession determines the pace of the subsequent recovery. They show that, historically, the relationship between growth in the first twelve months of a recovery and the decline in industrial activity from peak to trough is statistically significant. However, there is no relationship between the length of a recession and the strength of the recovery. Consistent with their finding of a bounce-back effect for industrial production, the recovery from the 1990-91 recession is the weakest in the period covered by the Federal Reserve Board's industrial production index, just as the decline in industrial production over the course of that recession is the mildest on record.

Keywords: Production (Economic theory); Recessions;

Bibliographic Information

Provider: Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

Part of Series: Economic and Financial Policy Review

Publication Date: 1993

Issue: Jan

Pages: 1-17