Lost Decade

A lost decade is a prolonged period of drawn-out recovery in an economy after a serious economic downturn or recession.

Lost-decades are characterized by widespread pessimism, unemployment, economic contraction, drops in real estate and a general lack of confidence in the economy.

Latin America experienced a particularly brutal lost-decade (La Década Perdida) following a debt crisis in the 1980s.

Japan also saw its own lost-decade in the 90s when its own hugely inflated asset bubble burst. Recently most of the world lived through a lost decade after the failure of the subprime market in the US set off a domino effect that almost brought the global financial system to its knees.

Today, 2008’s “great recession” is still affecting people’s real wealth and economic prospects.