Q & A: Getting a handle on the economy

STEPHANIE FARR farrs@phillynews.com 215-854-4225

THE PEOPLE PAPER asked Bruce Rader, assistant professor of finance at Temple University, to help us get a handle on the state of the economy. Here's how our conversation went:

Q: What's going on with inflation and recession right now? Are we in a recession? Are we experiencing inflation?

A:  We're experiencing a slow-down but I'm not sure we're going to meet the definition of recession by an economist's standards, which is two quarters of negative growth. [Today] we will get the first-quarter GDP [gross domestic product]. I think we're going to end up with a flat number. In the second quarter, we may see a rise.

One of the real key elements is that inflation seems to be getting a little bit higher than it has in the past. The Fed is less vigilant on that than it has ...