The strength of the US recovery has become a political issue in the presidential election. The US is doing better than other advanced economies, but famous economists associated with the Romney campaign claim this is not good enough. The US, they argue, is different. Here, the masters of the 'this time is different' research genre – Carmen Reinhart and Ken Rogoff – argue that US historical performance is not different when it is properly measured, so the economy’s performance is better than expected.
Five years after the onset of the 2007 subprime financial crisis:
- GDP per capita in the US remains below its initial level;
- Unemployment, although down from its peak, is still hovering near 8%.
Rather than the V-shaped recovery that is typical of most postwar recessions, growth has been slow and halting.
