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Economics vocabulary · Economic News and Data

Soft landing

Meaning in economics, with examples

idiomCommon term

In economics, soft landing means: A slowdown in economic growth that is just enough to bring inflation down without causing a recession or a big rise in unemployment.

In Turkish: yumuşak iniş

How it is used

An aviation metaphor used by central bankers, analysts and journalists. Central banks aim for, engineer or achieve a soft landing; the opposite is a hard landing, a sharp slowdown or recession. Many economists cite the US in 1994-95 as a successful example.

Example sentences

  1. The central bank hopes to achieve a soft landing, cooling inflation without pushing up unemployment.

  2. A soft landing is hard to engineer, and history shows that many tightening cycles ended in recession.

Common collocations

  • achieve a soft landing
  • engineer a soft landing
  • hopes of a soft landing
  • hard landing
  • recessionA significant fall in economic activity lasting months, with falling output, income and jobs; often defined as two quarters in a row of shrinking GDP.
  • monetary policyThe actions a central bank takes to influence interest rates, the money supply and credit in order to control inflation and support the economy.
  • rate hikeAn increase in the central bank's main interest rate, usually made to cool demand and bring inflation down.
  • inflationA general and continuing rise in the prices of goods and services in an economy, which means each unit of money buys less over time.
  • downturnA period when economic activity, sales or prices fall or grow much more slowly; a general word that may or may not mean a full recession.

More terms: Economic News and Data

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This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not financial advice.