Nobel Economics Laureate Says We're Not Headed for a Depression
"We're a long, long way from a depression." -Anirvan Banerji
Gary Becker, the 1992 Nobel economics laureate, has been quoted as saying we're not headed for a depression, noting that this crisis is smaller in comparison to the Great Depression of the 1930's and will have less impact on the economy and employment.
Gross domestic product has not yet fallen, he said, in a Newsmax report, and employment sits at just over 6 percent.
"Both figures are likely to get quite a bit worse, but they will nowhere approach those of the 1930s," wrote Becker in The Wall Street Journal.
According to the report, Becker suggests a few reforms he considers "reasonably likely" to reduce the chance of future crises: Increase capital requirements of banks, for one; sell off government lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; and, finally, no more bailouts.
"We've been in a recession all year, and it's going to get worse," Anirvan Banerji, director of research for the Economic Cycle Research Institute, told CNN. "We're going from a relatively mild recession to a more painful recession. But we're a long, long way from a depression."
