A random thought came to me.
War and recession have the same impact on the economic growth. Growth during wartime and during recession exhibit the same behavior. The same seems to be true for growth immediately after wartime and after recession. Relatively drastic changes happen during and after periods of war or recession.
If one looks at graph of growth without knowing history or context, one basically cannot tell the difference between wars and recessions. They are just dips which are unsuccessful in halting some long run growth trajectory.
Not so brilliant a realization, I will take that. But I am intrigued by it nonetheless.
p/s — this may have been an overly strong statement. Relooking level of real GDP per capita from the 1860s to this decade, the Great Depression caused deep world economic decline while impacts of war appear relatively minuscule.
