Recession: Why Economies Shrink and What to Do About It?

Recession is a groundbreaking analysis of economic contractions in the UK and USA over the last four centuries. Combining the historian’s extensive primary source material and the economist’s arsenal of statistical analysis, this book rewrites what we know about recessions.

Tyler Goodspeed will look at what causes a recession, and whether recessions end on their own, or do they require external intervention? Does a recession in one country mean the rest of the world will follow? Are we in a recession now?

Goodspeed argues that contrary to popular perception, recessions are not the inevitable bust that follows an unsustainable boom, and they do not operate like wildfires that clear out economic deadwood. Recessions are caused by adverse shocks like war and energy price spikes, and far from unleashing gales of creative destruction, post-recession economic growth typically resumes the same trend as before: all pain, no gain.

Come along to his lecture to learn why recessions have become less frequent over time, and why decisions made by businesses and governments can prolong recessions.

Goodspeed offers guidance to avoid making recessions worse. Issuing an important corrective to economic thinking, Recession is essential reading for high-level policymakers and armchair economists alike.

Date: 11 March 2026

Time: 11am - 1pm

Location: Lecture Room 2, Lecture Block, Sidgwick Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 9DA

About the speaker:

Tyler Goodspeed is chief economist of ExxonMobil. Previously, he chaired the White House Council of Economic Advisers. With PhDs in economics and history from Cambridge and Harvard, he has held faculty appointments at Stanford and Oxford. The author of three previous books on economics, he lives in Spring, Texas.

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Host or Publisher Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge