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Will the Economic Recovery Die of Old Age?
Report

Will the Economic Recovery Die of Old Age?

FRBSF, 2016

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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Innovative

Recommendation

Given that the current economic recovery in the United States began in 2009, some observers think that an economic slowdown is long overdue. But does a long recovery necessarily translate into an inevitable reversal of economic fortune? Or are periodic short-term stumbles just parts of the aging process that occur in a normal, growing economy? Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen believes “it’s a myth that expansions die of old age.” Economist Glenn D. Rudebusch finds support for Yellen’s observation in this eye-opening examination of post–World War II recoveries, which getAbstract recommends to economists and others interested in a new take on forecasting trends.

Take-Aways

  • A common belief holds that the United States’ economic expansion should weaken as it gets older and become more susceptible to a long overdue slowdown or recession.
  • But historical evidence from after World War II does not support this thesis. Instead, it finds that the length of an economic expansion is unrelated to its expiry date.
  • “Survival analysis” – a study of how “probabilities change over time” – indicates that longer expansions are no more or less likely to end than shorter ones.

About the Author

Glenn D. Rudebusch is director of research at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.