Five years after the start of the Great Recession, the toll is terrifyingly clear: Millions of middle-class jobs have been lost in developed countries the world over. And the situation is even worse than it appears.

Defying decades of investment history, ordinary Americans are selling stocks for a fifth year in a row. The selling has not let up despite unprecedented measures by the Federal Reserve to persuade people to buy and the come-hither allure of a levitating market. Stock prices have doubled from March 2009,...

The head of a typical public company made 6 percent more than last year, the second year in a row of increases - and the highest since 2006.

Are investors overreacting to the prospect of a recession?

The stock market is starting to feed economic fear, not just reflect it.