Moody’s Chief Economist: We’re ‘Treading Water’ — GDP Has ‘Gone Effectively Nowhere over the Past Year’

During a portion of an interview with NPR aired on Thursday’s edition of NPR’s “Morning Edition,” Moody’s Analytics Chief Economist Mark Zandi reacted to the third quarter GDP numbers by stating that GDP has “gone effectively nowhere over the past year” and “we’re kind of treading water.”

NPR’s Chief Economics Correspondent Scott Horsley said, “This is the gross domestic product, the government’s broadest measure of economic activity. And today’s report shows it grew at an annual pace of 2.6% in late summer and early fall, which sounds pretty good, especially compared to the first half of the year, when GDP showed the economy shrinking. In reality, though, the economy’s kind of in a holding pattern.”

Horsley then played a clip of Zandi stating, “If you take a step back and look at GDP, it’s gone effectively nowhere over the past year. So, one quarter or two, it’s down a bit. This quarter, it’s up a little bit. But net-net, we’re kind of treading water.”

Zandi also commented on the possibility of avoiding a recession by stating, “We need to catch a break. You know, we’ve been pretty unlucky. We got nailed by a global pandemic, which still is creating havoc in many parts of the world, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which wasn’t even on the radar screen a year ago. So, we just need a little bit of luck.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett