What is a recession? Inquiring minds (that is, one of your federal legislators) wants to know…

Check out this CRS report, ‘What is a Recession’

Arecession is one of several discrete phases in the overall businesscycle. The term may often be used loosely to describe an economy thatis slowing down or characterized by weakness in at least one majorsector like the housing market. When used by economists, “recession”means a significant decline in overall economic activity that lastsmore than a few months. The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)business cycle dating committee is the generally recognized arbiter ofthe dates of the beginnings and ends of recessions. As with allstatistics, it takes some time to compile the data, which means theyare only available after the events they describe. Moreover, because ittakes time to discern changes in trends given the usual month-to-monthvolatility in economic indicators, and because the data are subject torevision, it takes some time before the dating committee can agree thata recession began at a certain date. It can be a year or more after thefact that the dating committee announces the date of the beginning of arecession.

http://assets.opencrs.com/rpts/RS22793_20080123.pdf

Remember:  CRS prepares these reports at the request of US Senators and Representatives.  That is, they ask questions to which they don’t know the answer.  Think about it.