The great contraction

FT, Martin Wolf, Struggling with a great contraction | graphes

Many ask whether high-income countries are at risk of a 「double dip」 recession. My answer is: no, because the first one did not end. The question is, rather, how much deeper and longer this recession or 「contraction」 might become. The point is that, by the second quarter of 2011, none of the six largest high-income economies had surpassed output levels reached before the crisis hit, in 2008.