Talk:Recession

Frequently asked questions

If you are about to hate-post "The definition of a recession is two quarters of declining GDP!": the article already says that, so this would be a waste of time unless you have further suggestions for improving the article.
If you are here to complain Wikipedia changed the definition to favor the Biden administration, please don't, because 1.) the article has mentioned both the "two quarter" and NBER definitions for years, and that hasn't changed recently, 2.) after discussion by editors from a diversity of political perspectives, the introduction has actually been changed so it emphasizes the "two quarter" definition a little more, which we expect you will find satisfactorily neutral. But feel free to leave a note if you read the article and still have concerns.

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Recession article.
This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Article policies

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Archives: Index, 1, 2, 3, 4: 30 days

Economics High‑importance

	Business and economics portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Economics, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Economics on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.EconomicsWikipedia:WikiProject EconomicsTemplate:WikiProject EconomicsEconomics
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

Finance & Investment Mid‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Finance & Investment, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of articles related to Finance and Investment on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Finance & InvestmentWikipedia:WikiProject Finance & InvestmentTemplate:WikiProject Finance & InvestmentFinance & Investment
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

Business High‑importance

	Business portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Business, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of business articles on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.BusinessWikipedia:WikiProject BusinessTemplate:WikiProject BusinessWikiProject Business
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

There have been attempts to recruit editors of specific viewpoints to this article. If you've come here in response to such recruitment, please review the relevant Wikipedia policy on recruitment of editors, as well as the neutral point of view policy. Disputes on Wikipedia are resolved by consensus, not by majority vote.

This article has been mentioned by multiple media organizations:

Emma Bowman (July 29, 2022). "What is a recession? Wikipedia can't decide". NPR.
Christine Mui (July 29, 2022). "The recession debate is so intense that Wikipedia has blocked new users from editing its recession page because people keep changing the definition". Fortune.
Christopher Hutton (July 29, 2022). "Wikipedia restricts edits to 'recession' page after Biden denial of definition". Washington Examiner.
James Bickerton (July 29, 2022). "Wikipedia Suspends Editing of Recession Page as Biden Rejects Claims". Newsweek.
Zachary Leeman (July 29, 2022). "Wikipedia Suspends Editing 'Recession' Page After Users Furiously Debate Definition". Mediaite.
Alec Schemmel (July 29, 2022). "Wikipedia freezes edits to 'recession' entry after editors try to align with Biden". KBOI-TV.
Clara Hernanz Lizarraga (August 2, 2022). "Wikipedia Blocks Some Users From Editing Its 'Recession' Page". Bloomberg News.
Brad Dress (August 2, 2022). "Wikipedia launching new restrictions for users editing 'recession' page". The Hill.
Gayathri Loka (August 2, 2022). "Misleading: Wikipedia changed the definition of recession to favor U.S. President Joe Biden". Logically.
Phillip Nieto (August 3, 2022). "Wikipedia restricting new users from editing 'recession' page". Fox Business.
Weston Blasi (August 3, 2022). "Wikipedia stops some users from editing its 'Recession' page due to large amounts of 'nonsense and vitriol'". MarketWatch.
Julie Hyman and Brian Sozzi (August 3, 2022). "Wikipedia changes editing rules for 'recession' page". Yahoo! Finance.
Gabrielle Bienasz (August 3, 2022). "Wikipedia Is Restricting Editing on Its 'Recession' Page Due to Arguing". Entrepreneur.
Noam Cohen (August 5, 2022). "Judges rely on Wikipedia for their opinions, a new study finds". The Washington Post.
Andrew Orlowski (August 8, 2022). "Wikipedia has become a tool of the Left in the battle to control the truth". The Telegraph.
Samuel Breslow (August 11, 2022). "How a False Claim About Wikipedia Sparked a Right-Wing Media Frenzy". Slate.
Stephen L. Carter (August 2, 2022). "Are We in a Recession? Don't Ask Wikipedia". Bloomberg News.
James Spiro (November 21, 2022). "Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales on online toxicity, Musk, and the battle for internet accuracy". CTech.
Gareth Corfield (February 25, 2023). "Wikipedia is not woke, insists founder Jimmy Wales". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved March 16, 2023.

Recession has been linked from multiple high-traffic websites.

All prior and subsequent edits to the article are noted in its revision history.

Table
July 28, 2022	The Daily Wire	Wikipedia’s ‘Recession’ Page Shows 41 Edits In One Week, Attempts At Changing Definition	Traffic
July 28, 2022	OutKick	Wikipedia Bans Edits to ‘Recession’ Page	Traffic
July 28, 2022	Hannity.com	WIKI TWEAKS: 41 Edits Made to Wikipedia's 'Recession' Page in One Week	Traffic
July 28, 2022	The Post Millennial	Wikipedia redefines 'recession' to resemble Biden's changes—then locks page to new edits	Traffic
July 28, 2022	Daily Mail	Wikipedia joins in the gaslighting! Online encyclopedia SUSPENDS edits to its 'recession' page after woke users changed definition to align with Biden's claim that the US isn't in one	Traffic
July 28, 2022	The Daily Caller	Wikipedia Attempts To Change The Definition Of ‘Recession’ 41 Times	Traffic
July 29, 2022	New York Post	Elon Musk blasts Wikipedia after it suspends edits of 'recession' page	Traffic

Suspect

I thought a recession was two consecutive quarters not “a couple of months” 2600:6C40:1900:5B78:8CD7:8FEF:FC7A:109B (talk) 17:39, 23 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Indeed the article lead says "two consecutive quarters of decline in a country's real gross domestic product (real GDP) is commonly used as a practical definition of a recession". Where did you get "couple of months" from? The article does not have that text. – wbm1058 (talk) 16:54, 25 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]

A quote from the introduction: "In the United States, a recession is defined by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) as "a significant decline in economic activity spread across the market, lasting more than a few months" – 'Significantly' and 'lasting more than a few months'. Probably wise economists have written much about the meaning of these words to civilize the American people that live in the middle of poor information, that is, advertisements. 17:34, 7 October 2022 (UTC) Jari Rauma (talk) 17:34, 7 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

why is NBER the authoritative source? Foxhoundz (talk) 21:09, 14 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

"a fall in GDP for two consecutive quarters"

is not a global definition and should be removed from its current position at the top of the lead soibangla (talk) 15:59, 15 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I agree, I reverted. The lead has been the subject of extensive discussion on this talk page, including RFCs. We need to respect the outcomes of those discussions. MrOllie (talk) 16:21, 15 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

It's the global/scholar definition. Same everywhere.

If you change it, you may delete the "historical" part. 2A01:CB00:118C:7600:C98B:AC57:F341:3904 (talk) 09:55, 1 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Wiki Education assignment: Introduction to Community Economic and Social Development II

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 9 January 2024 and 12 April 2024. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Hachaudhari (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Hachaudhari (talk) 22:46, 4 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

GDP revisions today

show the 2022 two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth "recession" has been revised away

it never happened after all

now they tall us

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=1uopw soibangla (talk) 22:32, 26 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Wow, that kerfuffle feels like such a long time ago. A good example of why recession is a retroactively-defined concept by economists Andre🚐 22:55, 26 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Recession indicator tracker?

Is there a reason that the article has a live tracker? It feels a bit odd for an encyclopedia article, and it's going to be a bit of a maintenance task. — Red-tailed hawk _(nest) 16:15, 22 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]