Official definition · 官方定义
“Recession is a term used to signify a slowdown in general economic activity.”[1]
— Corporate Finance Institute, CFI Resource Library · corporatefinanceinstitute.com ↗ · accessed 2026-10-25
A recession is a broad fall in economic activity that lasts more than a few months. Output, income, employment and spending all decline together. In the United States, a group of economists dates it after the fact.
衰退是经济活动全面下降、并持续数月以上的阶段：产出、收入、就业、消费同时走弱。美国由一组经济学家事后判定起止时间，而不是由两个季度负增长自动定义。
The word moves markets before any data confirms it, because a recession changes the policy reaction: central banks cut rates, governments spend, and defaults rise. Two quarters of falling GDP is a popular rule of thumb, not the official test — the US dates cycles by breadth and depth across output, employment, income and sales. That is why a weak quarter can be called a slowdown while a short, sharp shock is still a recession.
「衰退」这个词在没有数据确认之前就能推动市场，因为它决定了政策反应：央行降息、政府扩张、违约率上升。
「连续两个季度负增长」只是流行说法，不是官方标准。美国是按产出、就业、收入、销售的广度与深度综合判定，所以一个疲弱季度只叫放缓，一次短促的剧烈冲击仍算衰退。
Two negative quarters
A rule of thumb, not the official definition; the US uses breadth, depth and duration.
A recession is a crash
Usually a slow contraction. A crash is a financial crisis; the recession follows it.
Technical recession
Two quarters of falling output — a narrower, mechanical test used in Europe.
· slide into recession
· a shallow recession
· recessionary pressure
· the recession that never came
slide into recession 滑入衰退；a shallow recession 浅衰退；recessionary pressure 衰退压力；the recession that never came 指喊了很久却始终没来的衰退，外刊常用来讽刺预测失灵。
· recession vs depression (depth and length)
· slowdown vs contraction (still growing)
recession 是衰退，depression 是深度和长度都大得多的萧条；slowdown 只是放缓、还在增长，contraction 才是真的收缩。
The economy is expected to enter a recession in the fourth quarter, with GDP falling X%.
预期句式：经济预计在四季度进入衰退，GDP 下降 X%——注意 expected 后面跟的是预测，不是已发生的事实。