Recession
In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction that occurs when there is a period of broad decline in economic activity.
At a glance
Key signals
0% cross fields · reaches 0 more
- Economics
- Macroeconomics
- Explanation
- Examples
- Misconception
- Sourced relations 3
- Attribution
Dependencies
What this concept builds on and what it makes possible — derived from the atlas’s dependency, causal and structural relations, not from every related edge.
System context
Recessionis part ofBusiness cycleEstablished
recession is part of business cycle.
Mechanism: A recession is the contraction phase of the business cycle — the downswing that follows a peak before the economy troughs and recovers.
- Wikidata verifiedmoderate evidence
Economic growthis aRecessionEstablished
economic growth is a kind of recession.
Mechanism: Growth and recession are opposite phases of the business cycle: growth is rising output, a recession is a sustained fall in it.
- Wikidata verifiedmoderate evidence
Structural role & consequence
Interpreted from the current atlas graph — what the connections mean, not just how many there are.
Currently dark in the atlas: no key date stored · 3 of 3 of its relations lack claim-level evidence.
atlas representation · Describes the current Thinking OS representation, not the state of the world.
Structural neighbourhood: 3 → 7 → 17 concepts reachable within 3 hops.
structural · Structural reach — being reachable is not the same as being understood.
All 3 of its relationships stay within its own discipline — a field-specific concept in the current atlas.
structural · Structural graph analysis — not a claim of importance, causation or history.
cross-field
3 within-field, 0 cross-field
Strengths & constraints
Constraints
- Evidence coverage currently thin in the atlas — few of its relationships carry claim-level evidence. atlas representation
- No dated history stored — the atlas records no key date for this concept. atlas representation
Conditions
- Read structurally — most of its relationships carry no external evidence yet, so claims here are graph-derived. structural
Seen through each discipline
How this concept sits in each of its fields — derived from its real connections in the graph, not asserted.
Through this lens it connects to Economic growth, Unemployment and Business cycle.
Through this lens it connects to Unemployment and Business cycle.
Related ideas to explore
Concepts that look related but are not yet connected here — candidates for a connection to reason about, not established links.
This idea also appears in…
The same structure shows up in other disciplines. These are real recurrences drawn from the graph — a starting point for asking “what carries over, and what changes?”
Feedback loop47 disciplines · 42 concepts
Concepts
shares a mental model
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shares a mental model
shares a mental model
shares a mental model
shares a mental model
Mental models at work here
- Connects 3 other ideas across 2 disciplines.
- Most of its connections are of the “Kind & structure” kind.
- It exercises 1 reusable thinking pattern.
Derived from the graph’s real structure — observations, not a score.
Sources
- Wikipedia (English & German editions) verifiedmoderate evidence
- Wikidata verifiedmoderate evidence
- The Economics of Recession (2017) verified
- How the Great Recession changed household economics for African Americans (2021) verified
- A biannual recession-forecasting model (2015) verified
- Japan's Recession (2012) verified