Nouriel Roubin: No V-Shaped Recovery, Says Dr. Doom

Nouriel Roubin: No V-Shaped Recovery, Says Dr. Doom

Lawrence Delevingne Aug. 17, 2009

A "V" shaped comeback? Dr. Doom ain't buying it.

Last week, Nouriel Roubini was slightly bullish, predicting a global recovery by the end of the year -- with plenty of caveats. But today, with the markets down, the recession-caller and NYU economist is back to his signature pessimism:

Roubini/RGE: Today, 20 months into the US recession"a recession that became global in the summer of 2008 with a massive recoupling"the V-shaped decoupling view is out the window. This is the worst US and global recession in 60 years. If the US recession were"as is most likely"to be over at the end of the year, it will have been three times as long and about fives times as deep"in terms of the cumulative decline in output"as the previous two.

Today’s consensus among economists is that the recession is already over, that the US and global economy will rapidly return to growth and that there is no risk of a relapse. Unfortunately, this new consensus could be as wrong now as the defenders of the V-shaped scenario were for the past three years.

Data from the US"rising unemployment, falling household consumption, still declining industrial production and a weak housing market"suggests that the US recession is not over yet. A similar analysis of many other advanced economies suggests that, as in the US, the bottom is quite close, but it has not yet been reached. Most emerging economies may be returning to growth, but they are performing well below their potential.

Moreover, for a number of reasons, growth in the advanced economies is likely to remain anaemic and well below trend for at least a couple of years.

Worse, Roubini goes on reiterate his fears of a "double-dip" recession. Why? Either a potentially botched government exit from economic intervention -- meaning either too little support or too much debt -- or because oil, energy and food prices potentially rising faster than economic fundamentals warrant.

So, the end of this severe global recession will be closer at the end of this year than it is now, the recovery will be anaemic rather than robust in advanced economies, and there is a rising risk of a double-dip recession. The recent market rallies in stocks, commodities and credit may have gotten ahead of the improvement in the real economy. If so, a correction cannot be too far behind.

http://www.businessinsider.com/no-v-shaped-recovery-says-dr-doom-2009-8