Economic activity appears to go through cycles, similar to a sine curve. That is, the quantity of business and employment varies over time. At the bottom of the cycle it is sometimes referred to as a Depression.

Is there a Long Wave with a length of about 60 years as the Russian economist Kondratiev believed? (He died in Stalin's Labor camps). If so, politicians do not affect it much.

However, most people believe economic policy can affect the cycles, or at least mitigate the worst effects. Perhaps the real cycle is that every sixty years or so laisser faire Free Market believers come to power and by failing to exercise supervision over the economy bring about a Depression.

Is the financial crash of 2008-9 a Depression?