An economic situation in which a country?s gross domestic product or output is sustaining a negative growth for at least two consecutive quarters or six months is called an economic recession. For the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), ?recession is a significant decline in economic activity lasting more than a few months?.

Economic recession lasts for eleven months and may reach until two years. While a recession that is short lived is called economic correction. Meanwhile a sustained recession turns into a depression.

What causes recessions to happen?

There are complex reasons as well as simple reasons why economic recessions happen. John Maynard Keynes states that there are ?animal spirits? as driving elements for a recession. ?Animal spirits? could be confidence, uncertainty, and pessimism. These ?animal spirits? prevent objectivity and quantitative analysis.

An example where these ?animal spirits? take over, is when consumers lose interest on products and outputs. On the eve of an economic recession, there will be overproduction. Supply will exceed the demands of products and goods.

This will push companies to increase prices and consumers will lose confidence and will be uncertain in purchasing products. Until the event that consumers will stop buying. Another example for this element driving recession will be the psychological impact the events of the September 11 attacks on consumers and the people.

Some economists suggest that recession may not only be caused by events that have large or huge impact on the people. Events that hurt particular companies or industries can also cause recession. Major innovations or change in a price of a major component needed in the completion of the product can have dramatic effects on some firms. These may cause reduction of workers or production.

Overconsumption can also be a cause of recession. Spending more that what is necessary may lead to recession and poverty. And example will be the major fuss over the expenditure of the United States in the Iraq war. Economists are saying that the United States should be careful with their consumption in the future.

Government economic policies can be used to avoid economic recession. But failure to provide good economic policies can lead to recession. There are some errors that can be made in economic policies. There are some economic policies that can lead to a boom and bust. This means that the economy is running in an unsustainable pace. Inflation is increasing.

Another policy error is that the policymakers themselves are not attentive enough to see the increasing inflation and onset of recession. Policymakers often times regard the onset of recession as just a slow economic growth and will correct themselves. But failure to address this may lead to more economic disasters.

Economic recession is not just a United States issue. The United Nations expressed an alarm that there might be a global economic recession as early as January 2008. According to United Nations, world economic growth for 2008 is estimated to be on 3.4 percent, flowing from the down trend since 2006 (3.9 percent) and 2007 (3.7 percent).

The bursting of the housing market bubble of the United States and the unfolding credit crisis of other countries are some contributing factors for a global recession. Currently, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania are in risk of experiencing economic recession due to credit crisis.

To summarize, economic recession can be brought about by external as well as internal economic shocks and widening imbalances in the economy. Numerous ways can cause recession. Steps can be undertaken to avoid altogether this kind of economic scenario to happen. But the most difficult part is to recover from the impacts of this economic turmoil.

Economic recession is gripping the country. This can be seen in the job losses and the rapidly increasing cost of living in the United States. This is perhaps why the upcoming elections is all the more crucial as it would determine just who will be “unlucky” enough to preside over such a messy economic condition. But politics aside, there are ways to survive the economic recession while the race to the elections is still going on. Here are some tips on how to deal with this cashless scenario.

1. Don’t waste food
Food like veggies and bread may not be as expensive as other products such as meat, fish and rice but this does not mean that you can waste it or throw the food away. Teach your kids to get only the food that they can eat and if they want more, they can always get a second helping. This way, no food is wasted especially now that you can’t afford to throw away food.

2. Plan your meals
Plan your meals ahead by making a dish schedule at home. This will allow you to determine what to buy at the groceries at a particular time. Having a schedule also allows you to know how much is needed so that you will not be buying more than you can chew literally.

In planning meals, make sure also that you include dishes that is more or less similar in ingredients. That way, you can buy in bulk for the rest of the week, which is less costly, but will be able to use the ingredients in multiple dishes.

3. Learn to recycle food
Food can be eaten the next day. Just put it inside the refrigerator after eating and then reheat it the next day. Make sure though that you use serving spoon for the dishes to avoid spoilage. Practice clean hygiene too when you are eating to also minimize spoilage.

If your family do not want to eat the same dish for the next day, be creative and whip up a new dish using the old one that you cooked. Some people fry or grill the dish or use the dish as an ingredient into another dish. It’s up to you.

4. Walk!
With the rising prices of gas, a kilometer can cost you a lot! So, bring out those rubber shoes and prepare to walk those blocks. If you are just going to visit a neighbor or just buying bread from the local store a couple of blocks away, use the trip to do some brisk walking. Doing this will save your money and will also save you from illnesses. Remember that walking is a very good exercise. Not only does it help in building the muscles in the legs and in keeping people fit, it also strengthens the lungs and the heart.

5. Save on water and electricity
You may not realize it but you may be paying more for your utilities than most people with the same number of people in your households. So, don?t waste those water and electricity. Turn off the lights when you leave the room or when you are going to sleep. Put your television sets in sleep mode or on automatic shut off. When it comes to water, shut off the faucet when you are soaping your hands.

That way, you are not wasting money paying off utilities that you are not actually using. This will go a long long way when it comes to dealing with economic recession.

People in the prehistoric times are not the only ones in survival mode. Nowadays, people all over the world especially in the United States are feeling the heat of the prevailing economic recession. With the sudden downturn of the economy, a lot of people are more hard up than they were in previous years. Some have even lost their jobs or have lost their homes because of the real estate crash in recent months. The problem with rising costs of gas has also affected the prices of food and other products. Times right now are tighter and harder.

But this is not to say that times are impossible to survive on. In fact, with a little creativity and a lot of forbearance, you can actually ride the economic recession tide and come out the victor. In this survival game, the most likely to survive are those who are willing to change their lifestyle and adapt to the times. Here are some ways to survive the economic recession:

1. Save!
This is not the time to buy, buy and buy in the excess. Buy only those that you feel you can eat or use. Do not buy more than you need. That way, you can be sure that you will not be wasting food. If you don’t need additional clothes or things at home, don?t buy any. Save your money for other things that you will be needing in case emergency times are called for.

Saving does not only mean saving money but also saving in electricity, gas and water. You may not realize it but these are things that get a large chunk from your monthly expenses. The same goes with clothes and snacks. This is the time to scrimp. People will not think less of you when you do that.

2. Plan ahead.
You may not want to become an obsessive-compulsive but there are a lot of advantages to being one. Planning ahead and keeping the household organized can help save you some money in utilities, gas and even food. Planning your meals for instance will help you determine just how much you need to purchase at the grocery stores. The same goes with the gas that you use when you cook food or the electricity that you consume when you use the microwave over.

Planning meals allow you to cook food at the same time. This saves energy big time. Designating a day to go to the laundry shop, the bank, the groceries and to do other errands will allow you to save on gas by going on one road trip instead of going on multiple trips to town. You can even plan your trips in between sending your kids to school.

3. Partner with your neighbors
If kids in your neighborhood go to the same school, ask the mothers to form some sort of group that will take turns sending the kids to school and fetching them afterwards. This will not only allow you to do more during the day, it will also save in gas as the kids travel in a carpool. If this is not viable, considering getting your kids into a school bus.

This way, you can be sure that your kid is safe and of course, school buses are cheaper than driving your kids to school everyday, truly a good option for kids in this time of economic recession.

Economic recession is taking its toll. A lot of Americans right now are feeling the heat of the tight times as more and more people are losing their jobs and losing their homes. High prices of gas and basic commodities are also making it harder for American families to survive without additional income.

During these times, people are thinking of ways on how to save up. This is especially true with families that support one or two or more children. Between feeding them and sending them all to school, these families will surely have to scrimp on some areas in order to survive.

But parents should not be the only ones who should be scrimping. When it comes to saving money during economic recession, their children can also play important roles. In fact, they can use these tight times to teach them children about saving for the future and saving money. This will help them deal with tighter times in the future should they experience it when they have families of their own. Below are some of the ways that you can teach your children about saving up.

1. Explain to them
You may not realize it but kids do know what is going on and when you explain the situation to them clearly and with examples that they can relate to, they will be able to understand you. Some will even help out on their own volition without you telling them what they have to do.

Telling them why they should do something is more effective than telling them outright what they should do. The latter will sometimes antagonize them or will cause them to rebel as they feel that you are ordering them about without any reason. Kids, as you well know, do not want to be bossed about.

2. Give them piggy banks.
Having coin banks may seem outdated in this digital age but it is nevertheless still effective in teaching kids how to save up. Tell them that saving up will allow them to have some money should they need to buy something that they want. A portion of their lunch money, for instance a quarter or two, is a good way to start.

Of course, do not discourage them to buy food when they need to eat but tell them though that if they are not hungry, they can save the money so that they can use more for the next day.

3. Get what they need
Controlling what they put on their plates during dinner will help control the urge to get more than they can use. Ask them to clean their plates every time. That way, they will only get the food that they will be able to eat. This will teach them about saving and buying only the things that they need. This is a great training in the future so that they will not grow up with maxed out credit cards, buying things that they do not really need in the first place.

4. Being a role model
Face it. Whatever your child does is only a reflection of what you yourself are doing at home. So if you want the kids to start saving up, make sure that you are also doing your part in saving in this times of economic recession.

There is a lot of talk about economic recession nowadays. People are complaining how economic recession is making their lives worse. The economic recession often refers to the two quarters of negative economic growth. A severe recession which lasts for more than two years, becomes a depression.

A recession is characterised by rising unemployment, increase in government borrowing, decrease of share and stock prices, and falling investment. All of these characteristics have effects on people.

People have a general understanding of the recessions? negative effects. But how does an ordinary consumer get affected by a recession, employment in particular is not really clear.

John Schmitt and Dean Baker released a new report on the possible impact of the recession on What We?re In For, Projected Economic Impact of the Next Recession this year. In their report, the 2008 recession in United States is perceived to raise the national employment rate between 2.1 and 3.8 percentage points. This would be an equivalent of between 3.2 million and 5.8 million unemployed Americans. CalculatedRisk stated, based on this report and United States? recession history, that economic downturn can be measured in how high the unemployed number of people rises.

Based from the United States recession history, there had been a handful of times when the unemployment rate has risen during an expansion. Unemployment had risen by 0.5 percent or and there were instances that it is less. But this scenarios happen when the country is not under any economic downfall. When the unemployment percentage reaches 0.6 percent, the economy is described to be under a recession. This year, the U.S. unemployment rate is nearly 1.1 percent.

Economists, until now have not yet formally labelled the economic downturn of the United States as an economic recession. Amidst falling home equity, the rising cost of food, health care and housing along with disturbing number of unemployment, economists is still claiming that there is still growth in the economy, even though it is small. People found it unnecessary for a formal announcement to actually feel the recession coming in.

According to Miami Herald, people unemployed are starting get desperate. The number or people out of work for six months or more increased from 160,000 from July to August. There are 10.7 percent of people who would like to have a full time job but
are unable to do so. Due to unavailability of working positions.

It does not matter if you have a college degree under your belt. College graduates this year are also experiencing the highest unemployment rate since 2004 with 2.7 percent. Meanwhile, 9.6 percent of high school graduates are unemployed and this figure is also highest rate since 1996.

Most of the job losses are in the manufacturing sector, which lost 61,000 jobs this year. In the manufacturing industry, Miami Herald cited 20 percent of job loss even though the export numbers are increasing.

Even though the pay or salary is increasing, a 3.6 percent increase compared to 2007 salary, it is insufficient compared to the fast rate of increase in the prices of primary commodities. The consumers? buying power is still low. Food and beverage costs are 5.8 percent higher than 2007.

For those who were left employed and thanking their lucky stars, there is still a hitch. Companies are already cutting the health coverage for their employees. Currently, $694 and $3,281, respectively, according to the most recent data by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Economic recession is an event which is very difficult for everybody. Hopefully, the real economic status will be recognized immediately to be properly addressed and solve.

An economic recession is normal because it is part of the business cycle. This usually happens after the economy recovers, expands and then slows down again which usually last for 2 to 4 consecutive quarters.

Unlike the four seasons we experience every year namely spring, summer winter and fall, this does not happen annually. The last time we had to deal with this was 8 years ago and during the early 1980?s.

The indicators which the economic experts look at to tell if something is wrong include consumer spending, the unemployment rate, industrial production, real income and wholesale trade. To help stimulate the economy, the Federal Reserve lowers the interest rate.

Unfortunately, this does improve the situation overnight and since it takes months before we are able to see any improvement, we have to do our share to cope with the current situation.

People will have to tighten their belts, which means buying items only when it is necessary. A good example is food since we need this on a daily basis. If there are other companies that offer similar services at a lower rate, it will be a good idea to switch as well.

Another thing most people will need to do is trade in their large vehicles for those that are more fuel efficient. This is not surprising because many have already done so even before the economic slowdown because of the increase in price per barrel of oil.

Businesses on their part have no other recourse but to slash jobs in other to stay in afloat. The bad news is that you just increased the number of people who are unemployed.

So should companies slash jobs? Not really because if the company focuses more on customer service, lowering their price points and making reductions elsewhere, customers will still patronize their business. When the current situation improves, the price of these goods and commodities can go back to where they were before.

Is an economic recession all bad? The good news is no because it opens a lot of opportunities for people who have money. For instance, investors will be able to borrow money at a low interest rate from the bank and people will be able to bonds, properties as well as stocks at very affordable prices.

But this is something that not everybody will be able to do. Instead of saving money, some can make money on the side by offering their skills to others.

An economic recession comes and goes. It does not happen only in the US but in Europe and Asia as well. Many experts believe that the current economic recession happening now will have an impact elsewhere and they are right because the European Union has finally admitted that they are currently experiencing a slowdown.

Since you are not sure if an economic recession will affect you or not, it is best to be prepared by paying close attention to your personal finances. You should learn to save up by putting your money in the back, investing in things that will have good returns in the future and not buying items which you know you can?t afford. If you need help, hire a financial planner to help you out so you are sure that if the inevitable does occur, you are safe.

This year, there have been murmurs that the United States is entering, again, into an economic recession. Although the National Bureau of Economic Research still has not release any formal announcement regarding this, American people are starting to experience an economic slowdown and a downturn in their financial and personal life.

This would not be the first time that the United States would experience an economic recession. According to economists, since 1854, the United States has encountered 32 cycles of expansions and contractions (boom and bust). There would be and average of 17 months of contraction an 38 months of expansion. However, since 1980 there have been only eight periods of negative economic growth over one quarter or more.

There were three period considered to recessions:

January- July 1980 and July 1981- November 1982: two years in total
July 1990- March 1991: eight months
November 2001- November 2002: twelve months

The longest record for an American economic boom was 37 quarters during 1991 until 2000.

The first economic recession happened in 1819. It greatly affected the new nation. After the War of 1812, the American economy was experiencing monetary strains. In 1814, during the term of President Madison, he allowed a replacement of a national bank. This enabled the post-war economy to boom. Although in 1817, there were some financial irregularities and irresponsibility. Americans started buying extravagant amounts of western lands- more than they can afford. The government started selling the land on credit.

On 1819, the government started to demand payment from the loans. During this time, the economy is starting to slow down. The market growth could no longer be sustained, the demands of American products are starting to wane. This led to a wave of bankruptcies and foreclosures. Land owners found themselves unable to pay their government debts and debts in the banks, leading to repossessing of lands.

After the 1817 recession, another recession in 1837 followed. With this recession, in just two months time, the economic decline accumulated to nearly $100,000,000 in value. There were reportedly 343 banks that closed (out of the 850 banks). While 62 banks reported partial failure.

There were recessions that happened in 1857, 1873, 1893 and 1907. The 1907 economic recession was a financial crisis. Nearly 50 percent of the stock market fell from its peak in 1906. It’s primary cause was a retraction of loans by some banks that began in New York City and soon spread into the whole country. The 1907 recession was the fourth recession in 34 years.

The post-World War I recession hit not only the United States but much of the countries globally. Pre-war economy was showing fast economic growth. As a matter of fact, the decade before the war, the world economy was growing record high. After the war, the global economy stated to decline. The sharpest or worst decline was during 1921. the recession was a result of the end of wartime production along with the return of the troops without any employment. Global production was also affected by the war, especially those countries whose industries were shattered by the war.

What followed was known as the Great Depression that occurred from 1929 until 1939. It is the most dramatic, worldwide economic landslide. It affected not only industrialized countries b out also nations who rely in exporting their raw materials. It was the largest and most important economic depression in the world.

Five recessions in the United States followed after the Great Depression. It was the recession during 1953, 1957, early in the 1980s, early during 1990s and early 2000.

The early 2000 economic recession was not felt only in the United States, but was experienced in most Western Countries. The European Union was mostly hit during 2000 and 2001. While the United states was affected mostly during 2002 and 2003.

Economic recession is defined to be a period of time (two consecutive quarters) where there is dismal or negative growth in an economy of a specific region or country. Economic recession has different effects on each sector of a nation. A particular sector could experience an impact that could distinctive only in his or her sector.

Women comprises half of the world?s population. During recessions, there is a relative downturn on women?s employment that ever before. Before the United States? recession in 2001, women were not greatly affected by the economic recession. However, after the 2001 recession in the United States, omen started losing a lot of jobs.

Women also experience low employment rates. Families rely on women?s employment to boost the family income during a recession. According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics:

1. When women lose jobs, families lose a substantial share of the income. Women salaries are said to be one third of the whole family budget.

2. Over the past 30 years, families who have a working wife have seen real increases in family income.

3. During the 2001 recession, women were hit harder by unemployment than men.

4. After the recession of 2001, women were able to get back to their jobs but where unable to gain or experience any increase in their employment rates.

5. Women are said to be harder hit by the 2008 recession since women are disproportionately represented in state and local government services.

Women are also greatly affected by job losses during economic recession. Women are said to be the last person to be hired, but the last person to be fired. Unlike women, men shows stable numbers since United States had experienced the economic recession

Between March 2001 and August 2004, women lost jobs in a number of key industries. Women lost 347,000 jobs in information alone. In retail industries, women lost 367,000 jobs. The biggest lost will be in the manufacturing industry which cost women over a million jobs. These numbers are just in the United States alone.

Unemployment rate among adult women workers rise faster compared to men workers. From 3.8 percent in March 2007 it went up to 4.6 percent in March 2008. There is also a significant effect on the wage of women compared to men. Women?s wages are more unstable than men?s wages.

Women have the tendency or risk of seeing large drops in income than men do. It has been culturally imbedded (based on gender analysis of events) that women?s income just fill in the disparity of men?s wage in terms of providing for the family. Thus women?s wage not being a major source of funds is more at risk of deduction.

In developing countries, women are facing poverty brought about by economic recession blowing out of proportions. With lack of work opportunities and immense poverty, women are forced to enter into prostitution and white slavery.

When economic recession hit in Asia in mid- 1997, women was the hardest hit by the crisis. Many women who have entered these industries come from rural areas because they could no longer sustain themselves and their families. Because of the recession, a lot of employees were released from their work. Women, carrying the burden of providing for their families were provided no other options.

Southeast Asian countries were deeply affected by the financial crisis and were left with social scars. Whenever economic recession or crisis similar to this happens, women and children bear the scars.

An economic recession is defined by a negative growth in gross domestic product for two consecutive quarters. In other words, the gross domestic products are decreasing in production. Recession is a national or world even regional event.

Economic recession lasts from six months until a year or two, which could be the worst time frame for a recession. Based on the experience of the United States with its last three recessions, the labor- market recession would last between three to four years. (Schmitt and Baker, 2008) with the actual recession only happening for more than a year and a half. The effects of a recession could be felt longer than the actual span of the recession itself.

There are several telltale signs that a nation or region is experiencing economic recession. MarketWatch lists seven things to watch out for to be full-warned for an economic recession event.

Accoding to MarketWatch, it is important to look at the increase of interest rates in the credit market. Lenders are tightening lending policies because of market troubles. Companies not making any profits is another sign of a recession.
Skyrocketing oil prices are also indicators of a recession. Oil prices have big effect on the economy, especially if the economy is experiencing little growth. Oil is not the only one increasing their prices. Prices of essential commodities are
also increasing. But the stocks and property prices are going down but nobody is purchasing them.

Housing problems and foreclosures are also clear indicators. Foreclosures happen when people and consumers are unable to pay mortgage and finance homes. Borrowers are failing to pay back loans for homes, vehicles, businesses and credit cards. Even banks and credit unions are missing out payments for their financial obligations due to borrowers unable to repay their loans.

There is also a relative increase of people truing to pay their bills with credit cards. Credit card purchase is increasing. This means that people are having problems paying cash. Using credit card to pay for loans despite excessive interest rate shows desperation.

Consumer spending or making sure that the money from the consumers return to the economy is also something to check. Government intervention in economic crisis resulting to fruitless efforts can also be a warning.

There is also a relative increase of unemployed people. During an event of a recession, companies tend to release workers due to low production demand. Low production demand means lesser income for the company owners. Companies and firms are then obliged to release employees to reach the target income. For the last seven years, unemployment has been rising steadfast in the United States. Overall employment, which is still high is historical terms, is declining since the start of 2008.

So how can ordinary people foresee recession?

AOL listed some interesting real life indicators that we are experiencing economic recession. People are stealing not only the whole car but different car parts from vehicles in parking lots. An example is a catalytic converter, which helps the car?s emissions. Meanwhile, inside retail stores, lesser people are shopping for merchandises. They are now opting for wholesale store membership.

Personal and family affairs, like weddings, are also being regulated in terms of guests and food. While corporations are cutting back on country club memberships and out of town travels.

Car companies are having difficulties getting buyers even with lots of incentives. Suddenly, the most popular restaurants in town does not have any waiting list at all. Small and local business are closing because they can?t keep up with the expenditure.

There can be countless ways of figuring out if a nation is suffering from a setback like an economic recession. But if these signs can be immediately detected and can give us a hint on our economic and financial future, then we should be better learn how to read the signs. Or we might not have the future.

Economic recession is an event that nobody seems to be happy hearing. Every time recession is being mentioned in casual conversations, it seems that everybody participating shudder in fear anticipating the worst.

An economic recession is an economic slowdown that happens in two consecutive quarters. Some economists would say that this is associated with series of events that generally recognized to be ?market correction?. What is this series of events?

An economic recession happens when there is more supply than the actual demand of the product. This leads to a decline in the gross domestic product. What happens during economic recession is that it provides a ?cooling off? period for creating on new products that will interest the consumers and of necessity.

When compared to agriculture, it is common sense among farmers that the land needs an time interval between the harvesting season and next planting season. Sometimes farmers would plant a different kind of seed that is known to bring and enrich the land again for the next planting season. Somehow this applies in financial and trade markets.

Some businesses would see economic recession as the time to reinvent. Time to innovate and create new products that will create a market hype and again will encourage consumers to purchase goods. Many businesses who have switched their attention in innovating during economic recessions show high probabilities of succeeding.

Since there is a large selection of products in market trying to capture the unmindful consumers, the period of recession accelerates the quality of products being available in the market. Since companies are trying to get the consumer?s money, they would likely to produce improved product quality, improved services at lower prices.

Since there are products that would not sell, this would push companies and sellers to inspect their production methods. This is a good time in filtering out production methods and equipment that compromises the quality, efficiency and speed of creating products.

An economic recession also serves as a wake-up call for everyone to have a balanced spending. Everyone gets a heads-up about keeping saving accounts updated and saving for any event in the future. Unfortunately, some people may learn their lesson in the hard way. There would be some who would be declaring bankruptcy, while in worst cases, there are people who would choose to end their lives. Economic recession would be a good time to rethink a person?s finances.

Some considerable benefits of economic recession is low housing prices. Unless, your in the business of selling houses, low prices is not a good news. However, if you are somebody who is planning on investing and buying a property, a period of recession will help you have the choices that you want. It is also a good time to look for investment properties.

Housing prices are not the only one who has low prices, company stocks are oven undervalued during economic recession. A person who is looking for long time stock investment, recession periods would have stocks that are undervalued because a lot of stock holders are more into selling that acquiring stocks.

MarketWatch mentioned other gains from an economic slowdown. MarketWatch mentioned that this would serve as a wake-up call for overconfident consumers and sellers who are missing out the importance of balancing finance. And also this would serve as a wake- up call for government to have a stricter finance budget since there will be cutback in the country?s revenues.

Although economic recession is considered a negative event, it is time to turn the negative event into a positive situation. It is time to wake up.