For generations, people have looked for small, informal signs that a recession is coming or already here. This phenomenon recently exploded on social media, often in joke form.

There’s a significantly elevated chance that a U.S. recession will begin within the next 12 months. The odds are roughly one ...

Indicators economists use to figure out if a recession is coming : Planet Money Lately we've noticed that something we think about all the time here at Planet Money is having a viral moment ...

Another recession indicator: sales of cardboard boxes. The basic idea is that companies ship and sell products in boxes. If box sales drop, it could mean the economy is tanking.

For months, people have been talking about indicators of the dreaded R-word: recession. There have been the usual suspects: economists, investors, businesspeople and journalists. But maybe the ...

Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, once hypothesized that a drop in men's underwear sales is a sign of a recession. As former NPR correspondent Robert Krulwich reported ...

Another recession indicator: sales of cardboard boxes. The basic idea is that companies ship and sell products in boxes. If box sales drop, it could mean the economy is tanking.

For generations, people have looked for small, informal signs that a recession is coming or already here. This phenomenon recently exploded on social media, often in joke form.

For generations, people have looked for small, informal signs that a recession is coming or already here. This phenomenon recently exploded on social media, often in joke form.