It was caused by the .com bust, just like we had in '29 and '57 and ...oh, actually that had never happened before either. Hell we had a recession in 1893 because a railroad failed! Since you seem to like to do this let me make this broad for you.... recessions are often caused by a disruption to the economy, often at the end of an expansionary period. The supply chain impact on the world economy is a disruption, we're at the end of a nearly unprecedented expansionary period. There, good enough for your symantic view of the world?
And again, literally no one with any background in economics thinks the world economy will suffer because of population loss a la the bubonic plague as you originally indicated. If you think everyone is a moron because that's what they believe...but you're the one mistaken about what they believe...then....
We had a .com bust in 1929 before the Internet existed? Okay, I'll assume you meant a stock market crash.
I would argue that the stock market crash is a symptom, not a cause. The cause would be the underlying fundamentals of the economy. Over extension of credit being the major factor.
There was no recession in 2001. But to say the .com bubble caused an economic correction is. not accurate. The stock market decline is a symptom, not a cause.
The stock market does not measure the economy, and I sure hope that doesn't need to be explained to you.