A surge in green shoots

These snaps from Factiva’s handy search trends graph (Number of articles containing “green shoots” combined with Recession, Economy or Downturn, from last 2 years) suggest a sudden rise in optimism over the UK and world economy throughout Spring and Summer. The end of Summer decline is not what I expected though. Why would journalists, not just in the UK nationals but in the foreign and trade press be writing fewer articles mentioning “green shoots”?

This is far from scientific, I admit, but the trend is curious considering that the economies of France, Germany and Japan are emerging from the downturn.

The scribblings of the press don’t necessarily augur our arrival at the mid-point of a W-shaped recession. More likely, recovery is now assumed to be happening, and we’re now emerging from the “green shoots” phase into something more lively.