system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Before and during a recession, what is seen as the “better” option: cash or real assets? Or neither?

Additional questions: does the attractiveness between these asset classes change when not in a recession? What is seen as the least valuable asset class during a recession? Why?
gpt
You can measure the risk of an asset in terms of the coefficient of variation between the real returns of the asset and consumption growth, sometimes called its "beta".

Assets with fixed nominal payments like Treasury bonds tend to perform well. Inflation tends to decrease when consumption falls, so the real returns on bonds go up. Because returns increase when consumption growth decreases. Bonds are said to be a "negative beta" asset as a result.

Assets like equities tend to do poorly. They are "positive beta" assets. Returns increase when consumption goes up.