>It doesn't matter how unrealistic it is From a rules-lawyering perspective, this is true. But I believe the true intent of determining if a country is in a re

>It doesn't matter how unrealistic it is From a rules-lawyering perspective, this is true. But I believe the true intent of determining if a country is in a recession or not is not about semantic gamesmanship, but about how accurately we can represent reality because the fidelity of that representation is what drives policy. That fidelity is what matters in terms of "correctness". If I say the official definition changes to whether or not a groundhog sees his shadow on a particular day, that's probably not the best way to represent economic health as a means of crafting policy even if it's "official" by fiat. Let's not miss the forest for the trees. Policy is what matters because it's what ultimately impacts peoples lives.