A question asked privately:
What is the difference between recession and depression?
Depression is an unusually severe or unusually long recession. Since 1854, an average recession lasted 17 months with a standard deviation of 12. The Great Depression of 1929-33, in contrast, lasted 43 months (so it was a two standard deviation event); the Great Depression of 1873-79, 65 months (that one was a four standard deviation event).
Source:
Business Cycle Expansions and Contractions:
http://www.nber.org/cycles/cyclesmain.html
The answer to this question is incomplete. You say a depression is an unusually severe or long recession, and then briefly describe the length related factors only. The commonest definitions regarding severity are that a recession is 2 consecutive quarters (or more) of decline in the GDP, a depression is a decline in GDP of 10% or more.
Wow… People actually read this and care to post replies? I am not sure if I should be flattered or flabbergasted… 🙂