Hope and Fail

Using Google search stats as an economic indicator

Larry Summers, director of the White House's National Economic Council, says a sign that the economy is coming out of the recession is that fewer people are searching for "economic depression" on Google.

President Obama’s chief economic adviser, Larry Summers, told the Peterson Institute for International Economics today that the U.S. economy is on its way out of the recession because, among other things, Google searches for “economic depression” have dropped down to baseline levels.

If the administration is is using Google search trends to set economic policy, then we better be on the look out for a Michael Jackson bailout or a Chris Brown troubled asset recovery program.

Early on in his prepared remarks, Summers laid out how bad the economy was when the administration took over:

Fear was widespread and confidence was scarce. Traditional measures of consumer and business confidence fell to low levels not seen in decades. The anxiety stretched well into the mainstream. Take one example as an indicator: Google searches for the term “economic depression” were up fourfold from their pre-crisis levels.

Then, while explaining “where we are,” he said the economy was coming out of the recession:

And…because I know you’re all eager to know about Google searches…hits for economic depression have returned to baseline levels.

Let’s just forget that unemployment is still growing beyond what Summers and Obama predicted, fewer people are Googline “economic depression” — we must be out of the woods!

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