In the United States, the Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is generally seen as the authority for dating US recessions. The NBER defines an economic recession as: "a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP, real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale - retail sales. '' Almost universally, academics, economists, policy makers, and businesses defer to the determination by the NBER for the precise dating of a recession 's onset and end.
when do we say that the economy is in a recessions
significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP, real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale - retail sales