More recently, hybrid car-makers have had programs to take back and safely dispose of used or damaged high-voltage battery packs for 15 years. Those nickel-metal-hydride cells contain precious metals with a known recycling value.
The term secular stagnation was originally coined by Alvin Hansen in 1938 to describe what he feared was the fate of the American economy following the Great Depression of the early 1930s: a check to economic progress as investment opportunities were stunted by the closing of the frontier and the collapse of immigration.
Stagnation. A period of slow economic growth, or, in securities trading, a period of inactive trading. Stagnation. A period where an economy grows at an extremely low rate without actually entering a recession. During stagnation, it is unlikely that jobs will be created, wages will increase, or that the stock market will boom.