A container ship backup outside Long Beach Ports in California, on Oct. 9, 2021. — A container ship backup outside Long Beach Ports in California, on Oct. 9, 2021.
Photographer: Tim Rue/Bloomberg

The Big Take

Supply Chain Crisis Risks Taking the Global Economy Down With It

New Bloomberg Economics gauges show the extent of the global supply shortages that are pushing prices higher and putting economic recoveries at risk.

By Bjorn Van Roye, Brendan Murray, and Tom Orlik

November 2, 2021 at 12:00 AM EDT

Last year the global economy came juddering to a halt. This year it got moving again, only to become stuck in one of history’s biggest traffic jams.

New indicators developed by Bloomberg Economics underscore the extremity of the problem, the world’s failure to find a quick fix, and how in some regions the Big Crunch of 2021 is still getting worse.

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