Synchronisation of Recessions in Major Developed and Emerging Economies

This paper examines various measures of synchronisation of recessions, including clustering of the onset of recession across economies, proportion of economies in expansion and the diffusion index of international coincident indexes, and shows that the recent global recession is possibly the most concerted in the post-world-war period. Factors that contributed to the synchronisation and severity of the recession, such as trade and financial linkages and timing of policy actions, are analysed.