Abstract : The “Great Recession” that began in 2008 plunged the economy into longlasting
stagnation with high unemployment, depressed output and very low
inflation. This crisis, whose exceptional duration is difficult to explain using the
theoretical tools of contemporary macroeconomics, invites us to enrich fundamental
analysis. Conceptualizing secular stagnation is then based on the
introduction of market imperfections such as credit rationing on the financial
market as well as nominal rigidities on the labour market. The resulting equilibrium
is characterized by the underemployment of factors of production (high
unemployment, low capital accumulation) associated with a fall in prices (deflation)
and monetary policy that is inactive because of the zero lower bound
constraint on the key rate. In a period of secular stagnation, the impact of
economic policies is affected, and many Keynesian properties appear: a deflationary
impact of supply policies, ineffective conventional monetary policy and
a positive effect of public spending, although limited by the crowding out of
private investment.