Krstic, Kristijan; Westerman, Ronny; Kumar Chattu, Vijay; Ekkert, Natalia V.; Jakovljevic, Mihajlo (2020)
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 17 (24), 9404
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph17249404
Long-lasting economic recessions spreading from initial cradle markets worldwide should be a periodic event inherent to capitalism as a prevailing socio-economic model. These crisis events unfold in relation to long-term business cycles. Their severity ranges from mild recessions to economic depression. The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) observes the business cycle as a natural occurrence within capitalism. NBER claims that periods labelled depression “are marked by a substantial and sustained shortfall of the ability to purchase goods relative to the amount that could be produced using current resources and technology”. According to credible economic history sources, such market disturbances are neither limited in frequency nor geographic extension. Recessions have occurred at least 47 times in the USA since the Article of Confederation Era was initiated in 1777. Additionally, they took place across a vast array of national jurisdictions ranging from Latin America to Greece, Finland or Far East Asian economies. Each time, with their local peculiarities and complex underlying drivers, they shaped unique historical evolution. Common market regulating mechanism failures have manifested through the rapid growth of unemployment rates, fall of real GDP, inflation and changes in consumer demand and industrial and agricultural activity.