Complete the joke: A recession is when your neighbor loses his job; a ______ is when you lose your own job.

• A. Depression
• B. Inflation
• C. Recession
• D. Boom

Answer: (A)

This joke plays on using a stronger term to describe personal hardship compared with a general economic downturn. A recession is a period when the economy slows and unemployment rises, and people often think of it as something that could affect others, like a neighbor. But when you lose your own job, the situation feels more intense and lasting, so the punch line uses a more severe label—depression—to capture that deeper personal impact. The humor comes from the shift from a public, collective downturn to a private, personal blow.

The other options don’t fit the line of the joke: inflation refers to rising prices, not job loss; a recession would repeat the first term and miss the contrast that makes the joke land; a boom means growth and opportunity, which is the opposite of the setup.