Economics of Macro Issues 7th Edition by Roger LeRoy Miller,Daniel Benjamin

Exercise 3

Examine the data from the last six recessions. (Good sources for data are www.nber.org/cycles/recessions.html, www.bea.gov, and www.globalindicators.org.) Rank them on the basis of both duration and severity. The first is easy; the second is more difficult: Is it possible that some people-either politicians or other citizens-might disagree about how to measure the severity of a particular recession? How would you measure it?