Policy Responses and Outcomes to Great Recession and Pandemic

By Blu Putnam, Chief Economist ,CME Group

Lessons from 2008 and 2020

• ​​​​​​Great Recession began September 2008, equities recovery started in March 2009.
• Real GDP reached pre-recession peak in Q1 2011, jobs fully recovered in May 2014.
• Pandemic hit U.S. equities in late February, market recovery began one month later.
• Real GDP on track to reach or exceed pre-pandemic peak by Q2 2021.

How Jobs Lagged GDP in 2008 and 2020

• ​​​​​​The Pandemic of 2020 and the Great Recession of 2008 had different causes.
• They offer a learning experience on how economies react to different policies.
• Equities rebounded rapidly in both cases due to Fed quantitative easing.
• Real GDP recovered faster from the pandemic due to massive fiscal stimulus.