Ten Positives of the Recession

If you watch TV, listen to the radio, or speak to people, you've probably heard why this recession is the "worst since the Great Depression." Not only is that comparison absurd, but there are actually many positives to this difficult time; here are a few.

1) Overall production (which is what really makes us rich/poor) may not actually be down as much as we think:

But when unemployment suddenly rises, as in a recession, people shift from work for pay to household production; people don’t take more leisure time than before.

So if we would measure output to include production at home, we would infer that a recession doesn’t reduce total output by as much as we thought; and perhaps the utility burden of a short recession is not as severe as one might imagine.

2) The evolution of good and bad businesses:

Economic cycles are Darwinian, picking off weak companies and leaving survivors stronger. A year into the recession, solid retailers have their pick of mall space. Respected banks are getting an influx of deposits. Tech companies with money to spend are having an easier time hiring.

3) The influx of skilled workers into other fields:

You may have guessed by now what all this has to do with Wall Street. Like them or not, the men and women who’ve gone into finance in the past 10 or 20 years have certainly been among our best and brightest. They are super-well-educated and work incredibly hard, with intense focus. In economic terms, these people represent a huge stockpile of human capital — and now, some 200,000 or so of them are losing their jobs. Perhaps even more noteworthy, however, are the hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of college undergrads and graduate students who had planned to work in finance.

4) Increase in evangelical church attendance:

During each recession cycle between 1968 and 2004, the rate of growth in evangelical churches jumped by 50 percent. By comparison, mainline Protestant churches continued their decline during recessions, though a bit more slowly.

5) Governmental belt tightening (it has to happen eventually) may result in less defense spending globally, thereby making everyone safer for cheaper:

we can know with absolute certainty that some governments must be overproviding what is called national defense; otherwise the service would not be needed in the first place. The overprovision is often a significant net loss of efficiency not only in the country "defended" but in other countries its government threatens.

6) It will increase America's relative global status:

the US has become the only remaining super-borrower, able to issue thousands of billions of dollars in debt at record low rates while the dollar strengthens. People are unwilling to lend to almost anybody except for the US Treasury.

7) Recessions can be great times to start good businesses like...

FedEx, Microsoft, CNN, Wikipedia, HP, etc. Pre-existing companies can also make incredible gains in years where the economy is down, like Google, PayPal and Salesforce.com Inc.

8) Even though access to health care declines, heath actually increases:

Sure, it's stressful to miss a paycheck, but eliminating the stresses of a job may have some beneficial effects. Perhaps more important, people may take fewer car trips, thus lowering the risk of accidents, and spend less on alcohol and tobacco. They also have more time for exercise and sleep, and tend to choose home cooking over fast food. In a 2003 paper, “Healthy Living in Hard Times,” Christopher J. Ruhm, an economist at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, found that the death rate falls as unemployment rises. In the United States, he found, a 1 percent increase in the unemployment rate, on average, decreases the death rate by 0.5 percent.

9) It may be good for grandparents:

Doing the annual pilgrimage to South Florida this holiday season, we’ve all been struck by how everywhere seems to be more crowded than usual. Parks, beaches, even stores are jammed. We could barely find a parking space at our favorite park, which is usually empty.

Could it be that with the down economy, people canceled or didn’t book expensive trips like cruises or ski vacations in favor of bunking with grandma and grandpa?

10) Last but not least, maybe God has a purpose for this recession. John Piper thinks so:

1. He intends for this recession to expose hidden sin and so bring us to repentance and cleansing.

2. He intends to wake us up to the constant and desperate condition of the developing world where there is always and only recession of the worst kind.

3. He intends to relocate the roots of our joy in his grace rather than in our goods, in his mercy rather than our money, in his worth rather than our wealth.

4. He intends to advance his saving mission in the world—the spread of the gospel and the growth of his church—precisely at a time when human resources are least able to support it. This is how he guards his glory.

5. He intends for the church to care for its hurting members and to grow in the gift of love.