The 2001 recession: how was it different and what developments may have caused it?

The 2001 recession was unique in several respects. For instance, the peak-to-trough decline in real gross domestic product was one of the smallest on record and its duration was slightly shorter than average. This article examines some of the other unique features of the 2001 recession compared with the “average” post-World War II recession. The author also shows that forecasters were surprised by the onset of the recession, perhaps because of incomplete data available to them in real time. Finally, the article examines the errors from a well-known macroeconomic forecast and finds that forecasters were surprised by the declines in real business and household fixed investment, as well as real net exports, before the March 2001 business cycle peak.