Economists Barry Eichengreen and Kevin O’Rourke have been comparing the downturn in the 1930s to the recent macro debacle in charts and words and offer a fresh update. The quick summary is that we’re doing better in the 21st century, but the recovery seems to be struggling. “While industrial production and trade recovered much more quickly than during the Great Depression,” they write, “both series now appear to be slowing down.” What does it mean? “It suggests that, as St Augustine would have said had he been managing director of the IMF, there is a case for additional fiscal consolidation and monetary normalisation, but not yet.”

This week brings updates on three employment reports, and the first one arrived yesterday. The Intuit Small Business Index rose in February, the payrolls firm Intuit advises. “Job creation among small businesses continued in February, albeit slowly,” the firm says in a press release. “This slow growth was accompanied by a small uptick in compensation and a slight decrease in hours worked.”

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