AZGrizFan wrote: ↑Mon Feb 24, 2020 10:38 pm
JohnStOnge wrote: ↑Mon Feb 24, 2020 5:46 pm
Here is an interesting article on the question of whether economic expansions necessarily die of old age:
https://www.stlouisfed.org/on-the-econo ... on-due-end
Having said that there are two things in the article surprise me. One is that the "hazard function" for the pre-WWII period showed a very definite association such that the likelihood of recession increased with the length of the recovery. The other is that there is a slight increase in the probability over time in the post war period as well.
Still, the fact that the economy has been in recovery for a long time does not mean there is a high probability that it will go into recession in the near future.
It’s called “the business cycle”. something you obviously aren’t versed on.
If you read the article I linked through the first paragraph you will see that Janet Yellen shares my view. She is probably well versed on the business cycle. Also note that the author of the article wrote:
...expansions don’t seem to be dying of old age anymore...
I am surprised there is any effect at all. But when I'm saying "effect" I'm talking about their hazard function estimating that recession probability is 4% when the expansion is 10 years old. That does NOT suggest that we should have been expecting a recession about the time Donald Trump took office. Also, if the slope continues as it was for that analysis we'd say that, just based on the length of the recovery without looking at other factors, the recession chance would but about 5% right now.
So, no, the content of that article does not support the idea that we should have expected a recession shortly after 2016 or even by now just by virtue of the length of the recovery.