Newswise — Plenty of people have levied theories about potential recession indicators across the economy this year. But what if the key to finding the right economic indicator is to stop thinking outside the box and to start thinking about the box itself. Virginia Tech economist Jadrian Wooten believes that the so-called cardboard box index may carry with it a warning sign for today. Wooten says that will put thousands of workers out of jobs, and is the biggest such pullback since the Great Recession of 2008. “If we’re to assume that cardboard boxes are a leading indicator, it could be a bad sign of what’s ahead,” he says.