Recession
A significant decline in activity across the economy, lasting longer than a few months. It is visible in industrial production, employment, real income and wholesale-retail trade. The technical indicator of a recession is two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth as measured by a country's gross domestic product (GDP); although the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) does not necessarily need to see this occur to call a recession.
Recession is a normal (albeit unpleasant) part of the business cycle; however, one-time crisis events can often trigger the onset of a recession. The global recession of 2008-2009 brought a great amount of attention to the risky investment strategies used by many large financial institutions, along with the truly global nature of the financial system. As a result of such a wide-spread global recession, the economies of virtually all the world's developed and developing nations suffered extreme set-backs and numerous government policies were implemented to help prevent a similar future financial crisis.
A recession generally lasts from six to 18 months, and interest rates usually fall in during these months to stimulate the economy by offering cheap rates at which to borrow money.
The sharp decline in economic activity during the late 2000s, which is generally considered the largest downturn since the Great Depression. The term “Great Recession” applies to both the U.S. recession – officially lasting from December 2007 to June 2009 – and the ensuing global recession in 2009. The economic slump began when the U.S. housing market went from boom to bust and large amounts of mortgage-backed securities and derivatives lost significant value.
The Great Recession officially lasted from December 2007 to June 2009 began with the bursting of an 8 trillion dollar housing bubble. The resulting loss of wealth led to