Who is in recession and who not
The OECD Economic Outlook No. 84 dated November 2008 includes this very neat graphic of which nations in the world are likely to be in recession next year and which not. Blue indicates negative growth in 2009; orange indicates positive growth; white indicates zero growth and gray indicates that no forecast is made. Unsurprisingly, things look quite hairy for advanced economies though less so for the developing world. We need to be careful about stereotypes such as "first world" or "developing country" because the assumptions on which these stereotypes are based are often dated (see Hans Rosling's excellent presentation Debunking third-world myths with the best stats you've ever seen at Ted.com if you need convincing on this issue.) The graphic presents a compelling picture nonetheless. Warning: TED is addictive!
Hat tip to Menzie Chinn at Econbrowser, who provides some detailed analysis and comment that it would be redundant for me to duplicate when you can as easily read it on that blog.