The global paints and coatings industry is a mature and stable component of the world economy. Coatings demand tends to follow overall economic activity, thus a strong correlation exists between GDP per capita and coatings consumption per capita. Coatings demand exhibits significant dependence upon industrial production and construction spending. By definition, global recessions are contractions in inflation-adjusted output per capita accompanied by far-reaching, synchronized declines in various other measures, such as world industrial production, employment, trade and capital flows, and energy consumption. The Great Recession of 2008 that devastated world financial markets, manufacturing, banking ...