The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) determines the dates when recessions begin and end. Most economists and policymakers accept these dates when analyzing recessions. On its website, the NBER notes that its “definition emphasizes that a recession involves a significant decline in economic activity that is spread across the economy and lasts more than a few months.” Yet the NBER eventually decided that the 2020 recession had lasted only two months—from February to April 2020. Why might the NBER have decided that a recession occurred in 2020 even though economic activity in the The United States declined for only 2 months?