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Economic depression in the world

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  • Breuer, Janice Boucher
  • McDermott, John

Abstract

We create a dataset of country experience with economic depression around the world. We define a depression episode as a period of cumulative decline in per capita output of 20% or more lasting at least four years. We find depressions are surprisingly common. We describe their incidence and onset over decades, regions, and levels of development. We identify economic, political, financial, and cultural variables that are associated with depressions. Probit analysis reveals that the probability of entering or exiting a depression is influenced by domestic and international shocks.

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  • Breuer, Janice Boucher & McDermott, John, 2013. "Economic depression in the world," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 38(PB), pages 227-242.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jmacro:v:38:y:2013:i:pb:p:227-242
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jmacro.2013.07.003
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    4. Lant Pritchett & Lawrence H. Summers, 2013. "Asia-phoria meet regression to the mean," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, issue Nov, pages 1-35.
    5. Andersson, Fredrik N. G., 2020. "Macroeconomic Equilibriums, Crises and Fiscal Policy," Working Papers 2020:21, Lund University, Department of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Economic depression; Economic fluctuations; Growth patterns; Institutions; Culture; Crises;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O43 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Institutions and Growth
    • O47 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence

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