Recession and Fiscal Policies

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1. How is a recession defined? Is the U.S. currently in a recession? Explain.

There are some different views of what makes up a recession. Some say it is two or more economic quarters of a downward moving GDP or Gross Domestic Product. The quarters need to be in a row. Others and many say it involves what NBER defines as "a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP, real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales."

Almost ...