Why Firms Are Struggling with the U.S. Economy’s Soft Landing

by Philipp Carlsson-Szlezak, Paul Swartz and Martin Reeves

February 17, 2023

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Summary.

Optimism about the economy has grown recently. This is an overdue shift in sentiment given the strengths of the U.S. economy that persisted all of last year when doomsayers called the recession prematurely. A so-called soft landing is arguably playing out.

Philipp Carlsson-Szlezak is a managing director and partner in BCG’s New York office and the firm’s global chief economist. He is a coauthor of Shocks, Crises, and False Alarms: How to Assess True Macroeconomic Risk (Harvard Business Review Press, 2024).

Paul Swartz is an executive director and senior economist in the BCG Henderson Institute, based in BCG’s New York office. He is a coauthor of Shocks, Crises, and False Alarms: How to Assess True Macroeconomic Risk (Harvard Business Review Press, 2024).

Martin Reeves is the chairman of Boston Consulting Group’s BCG Henderson Institute. He is a coauthor, with Jack Fuller, of The Imagination Machine (Harvard Business Review Press, 2021) and a coauthor, with Bob Goodson, of Like: The Button That Changed the World (Harvard Business Review Press, April 2025).

Read more on Economic cycles and trends or related topics Business management, Economics, Inflation, Recessions, Competitive strategy and Risk management

Why Firms Are Struggling with the U.S. Economy’s Soft Landing

Summary.

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