The Economist’s Green-Shoots Index

THE ECONOMIST - The world has been suffering a bleak economic winter. Yet some say that they see early signs that the chill of recession is giving way to spring. For many commentators, a hunt for the green shoots of recovery is on. Search among a selection of British and American newspapers, for example, and mentions of “green shoots” in articles about the economy have increased enormously in the past couple of months. The earth was barren in the six months or so after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, but newspapers have, with the onset of northern hemisphere spring, started to find the confidence to discuss recovery. In the past, mentions of the word recession (as mapped in an “R-word” index) have been a useful indicator of the likelihood of the real thing. Could the same be true of a green-shoots index and the likelihood of economic recovery?

MP: Likewise, the news reference volume for the terms “Great Depression” and “worst economy” have both dropped to almost zero recently, according to Google Trends:

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