Akademik

n.

A global economic recovery characterized by a mixture of slow, moderate, and rapid growth rates. Also: LUV-shaped recovery.

Famed New York-based economic bear Nouriel Roubini called it a LUV recovery. The euro-zone economies, tipped by the IMF to grow a tepid 1.5 per cent this year, were in an L-shaped path out of the crisis. The US is in a U-shaped recovery, tipped to expand a sub-par 3 per cent this year. America's big corporates are in good shape, having pared back their costs and built up massive cash reserves. Yet the emerging markets — led by 9 per cent-plus China and 8 per cent India — are the V.

—Michael Stutchbury, " Welcome to the new world order: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/welcome-to-the-new-world-order/story-e6frg6zo-1225996391882," The Australian, January 29, 2011

At the recent World Economic Forum policy-makers discussed what kind of recovery the global economy will be looking at. Some suggested the acronym LUV would be a good description: A conventional V recovery in Asia, a more sluggish U recovery in the United States and an L recovery in Europe, illustrating the shape of the growth curve going into and coming out of the recession.

—Marius Gustavson, " Will We Have a LUV Recovery?: http://reason.org/blog/show/will-we-have-a-luv-recovery," Reason Foundation, February 26, 2010

Going forward, Sir Martin says we'll see a "LUV" recovery: a Little recovery in Europe, a U-shaped one in the United States, and a V-shaped one in Asia.

—Nicholas Carlson, " Turnaround? 'We Have Not Seen It,' Says Sorrell: http://www.businessinsider.com/turnaround-we-have-not-seen-it-says-sorrell-2009-10," The Business Insider, October 5, 2009

When they graph economic growth (or contraction) rates over time, financial types become positively pareidolic: http://wordspy.com/words/pareidolia.asp when they claim to perceive recognizable shapes in those graphs. The most common are the L-shaped recovery (first use circa 1975), where the economy falls sharply and then limps along with little or no growth for a while; the U-shaped recovery (c. 1961) where the economy falls, shows moderate growth for a while, and then recovers sharply; and the V-shaped recovery (c. 1958) where the economy falls but then rebounds almost immediately. I'll leave it as an exercise for the reader to figure out what a W-shaped recovery (c. 1958) entails.

Although the full phrase LUV recovery dates to October 2009, the first use of the acronym LUV (or, in this case L-U-V) occurred a few months earlier:

It's starting to look like the Summer of Love. Two reasons: The recovery is taking on a L-U-V shape globally, and it's going to require huge amounts of love and nurturing to keep growth alive.

L stands for Europe...The United States sports a U...V stands for Asia.

—" It's the Summer of L-U-V: http://blogs.reuters.com/macroscope/2009/07/03/its-the-summer-of-l-u-v/," Reuters, July 3, 2009

Wow a lot of information for one word.I use this to help me in school.