The Recovery After a RecessionVideo: Explaining a K-shaped Recovery

Published October 2021

The economy wasn’t immune to COVID-19. After a decade of economic growth, the pandemic resulted in a recession followed soon after by the beginning of a recovery. Except, even a year later, not all industries and people are recovering equally. For some, it has been a long recession.

During times of economic upheaval, experts turn to an alphabet soup of sorts to provide insight into the economy and, by extension, see how people and businesses are doing. V, U, W, L, I and K illustrate the different types of a rebounding economy — from V’s quick return to growth to I’s long, continued decline. So where does K fit in? It’s a little bit of both. Watch the video for more details on the Texas economy and K-shaped recoveries.

Read more about COVID-19’s impact on the Texas economy in our May 2020 and January 2021 issues of Fiscal Notes.