Yellowstone National Park: a lesson for the economy?
People and Leadership Yellowstone National Park: a lesson for the economy? Author: Philip Beddows Originally published in The Boardroom Magazine: December 2008 Coverage of the recent economic crisis has been extensive and it is feared that recovery will be long, drawn-out and painful. But, asks Philip Beddows, has anybody stopped to consider that what is happening in the markets is simply part of an economic cycle, entirely natural and expected – just like the forest fires of Yellowstone National Park? Over the past few weeks, anyone picking up any newspaper will have read increasingly dismal headlines about the state of the economy in the UK, Europe, the US and beyond. Words such as ‘Armageddon’, ‘crash’, ‘meltdown’ and ‘slowdown’ abound; meanwhile, Alistair Darling has declared he is “confident” we will get through the recession. What is the alternative, we might ask? Is it even possible to conceive that we will not get through it? La...