For several important countries individually, the increase in unemployment and loss of real output was certainly equal to those in the most severe postWar recessions, but not significantly greater. Some respected scholars of US business cycles have suggested recently that it may be a bit soon to judge whether the recent period qualifies for the term “great recession”, at least in the US case.
In east Asia, in most cases, the latest episode has turned out to be far less traumatic than the 1997–98 Asian financial crisis. What was striking about the recent downturn was the simultaneity of the collapse in demand for durable goods around the world at the end of 2008.