Recession vs Depression

Recession versus Depression

It's pretty easy to understand depressions once you get the concept of recessions. A depression is simply a prolonged or particularly excruciating recession. Economists don't really have a watermark to indicate a depression. Believe it or not, there's even an economists' joke that describes the ambiguity between recessions and depressions: A recession is when your neighbor loses his job; a depression is when you lose your job [source: FRBSF]. While the presence of a recession is debatable, when a depression hits, the issue is no longer up for debate. Read more.