stagnation

Many of the economic problems of Sept. 11, 2001, feel awfully familiar today: Recession, bursting bubbles, low consumer confidence, predatory lending. But of course, it's a whole new world now, so we asked economists what the most significant shifts of the past decade have been.

Is the U.S. headed for a "new normal" -- a slow-growth economy that lasts perhaps for as long as a decade? The evidence supporting the new-normal argument, predicting a future in which the U.S. GDP grows at no more than 2.0% to 2.5% per year, is compelling. That low growth rate would constrain...