Not much more easily than making money off of anything else. The threat of a recession is widely known; for any financial maneuver that could take advantage of

Not much more easily than making money off of anything else. The threat of a recession is widely known; for any financial maneuver that could take advantage of it, the "returns if a recession hits" factor is already priced in. Unless you have a PhD in quantitative finance, it's usually best to take it as axiomatic that you don't have a knowledge-based edge in the stock market, or anything similar.