>That the definition of a recession has always been 2 quarters of negative GDP. Well, if you want to be specific, the NBER (which calls the game on what is a r

>That the definition of a recession has always been 2 quarters of negative GDP. Well, if you want to be specific, the NBER (which calls the game on what is a recession or not) defines it as "a significant decline in economic activity that is spread across the economy and that lasts more than a few months." The "two quarters of declining real GDP" (GDP increased by 7.8% in nominal terms) is the pop-economics yardstick. Are you aware we had a recession in 2001? And yet that managed to happen without having two consecutive quarters of negative GDP.