THE economic recovery that has followed the end of the 2007-9 recession may be properly named the private enterprise bounce. While the overall recovery is comparable to recoveries after the two previous recessions, this one has been pushed higher by rising private investment and hiring, and held back by cuts in government spending and hiring.

Over all, the economy has grown a little more slowly, as measured by gross domestic product, than it did during comparable periods of the two previous recoveries. Preliminary figures for the fourth quarter of 2011 show the economy 6.2 percent larger than it was when the downturn ended, against 7.3 percent gains after the two previous downturns.

As...