In mid-2010, some policymakers and economists were afraid that the U.S. economy might slip into another recession, even though the previous recession had ended less than one year earlier.

A column in the Wall Street Journal analyzed the chances of a "double-dip recession" occurring: "The consensus is that this won't happen. One of the major bits of supporting evidence for this is that the yield curve remains upward sloping."

What does an upward-sloping yield curve have to do with the chance that a recession may occur?