A situation (in the business cycle/ economic cycle) that is marked by a rapid move from economic expansion to recession due to an application of an overly restrictive monetary policy by a government. In other words, hard landing takes place when an economy from a period of accelerating growth to a period of slowdown or sharp downturn, flatting all the way towards a stagnation or a full-fledged recession. Hard landing is a metaphor borrowed from the aviation industry, where an aircraft lands hard when it touches down harshly or with a heavy force rather than smoothly. Likewise, high-flying (or rapidly growing) economies may suddenly run into sharp decline in economic growth due to a monetary policy intervention aiming to curb inflation. .

The opposite of hard landing is soft landing.