“V-shaped recovery” is not a technical term in economics, and it lacks a formal definition. But what could it possibly look like, if not like the economic recovery currently underway?

At the beginning of October, the Bureau of Labor Statistics delivered the shocking and encouraging news that unemployment had plummeted from its coronavirus high of 14.7% in April to just 7.9% in September. This meant that unemployment had crashed down into the single digits a full year before experts had predicted.