A recession defined by two down quarters is still a recession even if it recovers in the third quarter.
Biden was criticized for trying to spin off the accepted definition for political gains.
Biden was criticized for trying to spin off the accepted definition for political gains.
2 quarters is a useful shorthand that frequently is wrong. The 2020 recession lasted all of three months; not anywhere near two quarters. The 2001 recession did not have two consecutive quarters of GDP decline.
They explain why they do not use the two quarter method here: https://www.nber.org/research/business-cycle-dating/business...