Browse Economics

Recessions, Depressions, and Downturns

Downturn, recession, and depression terms that frame credit conditions, earnings risk, and policy response.

Recessions, Depressions, and Downturns covers business-cycle phases, recessions, recoveries, labor-market releases, production data, confidence measures, forecasting terms, and cycle indicators used in market analysis.

Use these pages when economic data or cycle labels affect revenue assumptions, credit quality, rate expectations, portfolio positioning, or business-planning scenarios. It sits inside Cycle Phases, Recessions, and Recoveries, so readers can move up when the broader economics context matters.

Use the table below to choose the narrower economics branch before applying a term to a model, credit view, market interpretation, policy conclusion, or risk review. Move into the term page when the evidence source, calculation, institution, market convention, or risk exposure matters.

What This Branch Covers

AreaUse it for
DepressionDepression describes a business-cycle phase or pattern that affects output, employment, inflation, and financial markets.
Double-Dip RecessionDouble-Dip Recession describes a business-cycle phase or pattern that affects output, employment, inflation, and financial markets.
Economic DownturnEconomic Downturn describes a business-cycle phase or pattern that affects output, employment, inflation, and financial markets.
Great DepressionThe Great Depression was the severe 1930s economic contraction that shaped modern monetary policy, banking rules, and fiscal intervention debates.
Great RecessionGreat Recession describes a business-cycle phase or pattern that affects output, employment, inflation, and financial markets.
RecessionRecession describes a business-cycle phase or pattern that affects output, employment, inflation, and financial markets.

What to Check

  • Indicator source and release calendar.
  • Level, rate of change, revision, and seasonal adjustment.
  • Cycle phase, output gap, labor-market signal, or confidence measure.
  • Sector, market, or borrower exposure affected.
  • Forecast horizon and data vintage.

Common Mistakes

  • Treating one release as a complete cycle diagnosis.
  • Ignoring revisions and seasonal adjustments.
  • Mixing coincident, lagging, and leading indicators.
  • Assuming every recession or recovery has the same effect on every asset or borrower.

Cycle analysis is educational context and not a forecast or recommendation.

In this section

Choose a subsection first. Deeper term pages live inside each subsection, which keeps large topic hubs readable.

Depression

Depression describes a business-cycle phase or pattern that affects output, employment, inflation, and financial markets.

Double-Dip Recession

Double-Dip Recession describes a business-cycle phase or pattern that affects output, employment, inflation, and financial markets.

Economic Downturn

Economic Downturn describes a business-cycle phase or pattern that affects output, employment, inflation, and financial markets.

Great Depression

The Great Depression was the severe 1930s economic contraction that shaped modern monetary policy, banking rules, and fiscal intervention debates.

Great Recession

Great Recession describes a business-cycle phase or pattern that affects output, employment, inflation, and financial markets.

Recession

Recession describes a business-cycle phase or pattern that affects output, employment, inflation, and financial markets.

Revised on Sunday, June 21, 2026