” as opposed to the dictionary: two consecutive quarters of negative GDP.”
The NBER has been the referee of recessions since the 1920s. They don’t use the definition of “two consecutive quarters of negative GDP” no matter how often that idea gets repeated.
It’s Orwellian. I guess we’re all free to use any damn definition we want for any damn term describing the economy. I’ve never before heard a slowing in growth described as a recession. Up until this summer when did the economy contract?