These Factors And Not The Wall Street Crash May Have Triggered The Great Depression
It isn’t just the history books that cite the stock market crash of 1929 as the one event that triggered the Great Depression. Pop culture also references the crash on many an occasion, and we can understand why. The average person has at least a basic understanding of stock market crashes, so it’s not surprising this event gets most of the blame. However, there were other reasons why the recession that followed the Wall Street crash turned into the Great Depression in a matter of years.
Disregarding the advice of more than a thousand economists , President Herbert Hoover signed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act in June 1930, which taxed imports to the United States by an additional 20% or so. It was hoped that this act would protect the American farming industry from foreign competitors, but it backfired when dozens of countries responded by imposing higher taxes on U.S. products. Due to the Smoot-Hawley act, international trade declined by a whopping 66 percent for the five-year period between 1929 and 1934. As for the U.S. unemployment rate, which was at around 9% before the act was passed, that jumped to 16% in 1931 and 25% in 1932, as noted in a blog post from businessman and Harvard Business School professor Bill George.
In addition to the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, experts such as late economist Milton Friedman have blamed other factors, such as the Federal Reserve’s switch to a much tighter monetary policy in the early 1930s.
Comparison With The Great Recession
The worldwide economic decline after 2008 has been compared to the 1930s.
The causes of the Great Recession seem similar to the Great Depression, but significant differences exist. The previous chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, had extensively studied the Great Depression as part of his doctoral work at MIT, and implemented policies to manipulate the money supply and interest rates in ways that were not done in the 1930s. Bernanke’s policies will undoubtedly be analyzed and scrutinized in the years to come, as economists debate the wisdom of his choices. Generally speaking, the recovery of the world’s financial systems tended to be quicker during the Great Depression of the 1930s as opposed to the late-2000s recession.
1928 and 1929 were the times in the 20th century that the wealth gap reached such skewed extremes half the unemployed had been out of work for over six months, something that was not repeated until the late-2000s recession. 2007 and 2008 eventually saw the world reach new levels of wealth gap inequality that rivalled the years of 1928 and 1929.
Novels Set During The Great Depression
Nearly a decade after the housing market crashed and the Great Recession hit, remain chillingly relatable. With global economies still in recovery, readers â particularly those from the working- and former-middle classes â identify strongly with Depression Era narratives’ nebulous villains and unbeatable circumstances.
That doesn’t mean novels set during the Great Depression are, well, depressing. The backdrop of widespread poverty, unemployment, and desperation provides an excellent foil to the tenacity of the human spirit.
On the other hand, some stories set in the 1930s show us how a bad situation can affect an individual’s personality and well-being, and how compounding circumstances can create an inescapable downward spiral toward doom. Because reading fiction increases a person’s capacity for empathy, taking the time to consume so-called “depressing” books can help you to become a better citizen and ally.
The nine books on this list probably aren’t the first to leap to mind when you think of novels set during the Great Depression. The Grapes of Wrath is not here. Neither are Tobacco Road or Out of the Dust. Those are wonderful novels, but you and I and all the other book nerds know their stories. I want to showcase a few you might not have read.
Check out my suggestions below, and share your favorite novels set during the Great Depression with me on .
Also Check: Signs Of Major Depressive Episode
The Day The Bubble Burst
Americans viewed banking, commerce, and governmental policies with blind idealism in the 1920s. As far as they were aware, nothing would ever lead to disaster. The occurrences of October 29, 1929, however, demonstrated that these beliefs were false, as the untouchable US stock market crashedand with it, the global economy. This New York Times blockbuster examines the influential men behind the scenesas well as the common people who bore the brunt of their decisionsto provide a fascinating history of the Great Depression that just doesnt feel like it was plucked off a lonely bookshelf. The narrative of an inflated share market and the banking crisis that led to the Great Depression of the 1930s is told in this New York Times popular book. Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929, is the subject of a gripping national history. The exhilarating expectation, the optimism that controlled mens hearts and minds before the market collapse and the years that followed.
Songs Of Willow Frost By Jamie Ford
When 12-year-old William Eng goes to see a movie with the rest of the children who live in the orphanage with him, he becomes convinced of two things: 1) his mother is still alive, and 2) she’s a movie star named Willow Frost. Joined by a friend, William breaks out of the orphanage and makes his way across Seattle, in search of the mother he lost five years earlier.
Also Check: Is Depression And Anxiety A Mental Illness
The End Of One Big Deflation By Barry Wigmore & Peter Temin
The lessons of the Great Depression is our theme today. You are an expert on that topic. By all accounts, thats one of the reasons why Barack Obama asked you to join his cabinet in the autumn of 2008. How well did economists understand the toll that the financial crisis of 2008 would take on the US economy as you prepared to chair the White House Council of Economic Advisers?
In the middle of the financial crisis, it was hard to estimate just how much damage had already been done to the economy and how widespread the impacts would be. But what economists certainly understood from history was that the crisis could be absolutely devastating if policymakers didnt take steps to stop it and to mitigate the damage.
Right-wing websites are rife with references to Obamas Depression. I know economists and partisan bloggers wield the word depression differently. When economists use the word, what precisely do they mean?
Lets get to your books. The first three are about what caused the Great Depression, and the last two are about what ended it. Your first choice is A Monetary History of the United States by Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz. Please give us a précis of the book and explain how it changed the debate about the causes of the Great Depression.
Get the weekly Five Books newsletter
The stresses on the US economy in 2008 were much larger than those in 1930. So why has this recession, as bad as it has been, not been a second Great Depression or even worse?
Fdr’s New Deal May Have Actually Extended The Depression
The belief that President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal policies brought an end to the Great Depression is just another one of the many accepted but not 100% accurate narratives surrounding the protracted economic crisis. Granted, FDR’s administration saw a lot of key economic metrics improve substantially, and he deserves credit for launching several productive banking, agricultural, and labor reforms as part of his platform. However, saying that the New Deal was an instant gateway to recovery ignores the bigger picture.
According to The Washington Post, it took quite a while before there was a semblance to how things were before the Depression. There were even some counterproductive New Deal initiatives, such as the flagship National Industrial Recovery Act, which clearly favored large businesses and had too many vague regulations and caveats. The Cato Institute also notes that the act was one of several New Deal programs that led to hundreds of thousands of Blacks losing their jobs, further highlighting the racial inequality of the era. And to top it all off, there are some experts who believe that the New Deal actually extended the Great Depression according to historian Stephen Davies, unemployment in 1937 was just as bad as it was in 1932, and the U.S. government had accumulated a staggering amount of debt.
Read Also: Mild Depression Vs Severe Depression
The Mighty Miss Malone By Christopher Paul Curtis
When her father leaves town to find work, clever Deza journeys to find him with her mother and brother. Their travels take them to a small town outside Flint, Michigan, where Deza’s brother discovers a talent that may prove lucrative. Meanwhile, mother and daughter hold out hope that they’ll be reunited with their husband and father.
Role Of Women And Household Economics
Women’s primary role was as housewives without a steady flow of family income, their work became much harder in dealing with food and clothing and medical care. Birthrates fell everywhere, as children were postponed until families could financially support them. The average birthrate for 14 major countries fell 12% from 19.3 births per thousand population in 1930, to 17.0 in 1935. In Canada, half of Roman Catholic women defied Church teachings and used contraception to postpone births.
Among the few women in the labor force, layoffs were less common in the white-collar jobs and they were typically found in light manufacturing work. However, there was a widespread demand to limit families to one paid job, so that wives might lose employment if their husband was employed. Across Britain, there was a tendency for married women to join the labor force, competing for part-time jobs especially.
In France, very slow population growth, especially in comparison to Germany continued to be a serious issue in the 1930s. Support for increasing welfare programs during the depression included a focus on women in the family. The Conseil Supérieur de la Natalité campaigned for provisions enacted in the Code de la Famille that increased state assistance to families with children and required employers to protect the jobs of fathers, even if they were immigrants.
Recommended Reading: Can Birth Control Help Anxiety And Depression
What History Books Got Wrong About The Great Depression
Close to a century later, we still look at the Great Depression as one of the worst economic periods in modern history, if not the outright worst. Unemployment reached unprecedented highs, people in many parts of the world and not just the United States were reduced to abject poverty, and the decadent, free-spending Roaring Twenties were all but a memory at that point in history. And it all started in the fall of 1929 as the U.S. stock market experienced a crash unlike none other that had been seen before it. Or did it?
Spoiler alert that’s among the many less-than-accurate details history books, especially the older ones, will tell you about the Great Depression. While there is a grain of truth to these retellings of what happened before, during, and immediately after this historic crisis, they oftentimes don’t tell the whole story. As you’ll find out in a bit, saying that the Depression started on Black Thursday and ended when the Americans sent troops overseas to fight in World War II oversimplifies things by a great deal. So with that in mind, let’s look at some ways the history books got it wrong when looking back on the Great Depression.
Life During The Great Depressiondepictions In Children’s Books
Teaching about life during the Great Depression does not have to be adowner! Most children’s books on the era provide a balancedaccount–portraying the harsh realities and tremendous sacrifices as well as accounts of compassionate and braveindividuals who were determined to survive inthis harsh time.
None of the children’s books listed belowfocus entirely on the hardships of the era, and none of the books will leave thereader with a sense of despair and hopelessness. Instead, these ‘best books’ convey the reality of life during the Great Depression,but also leave the reader better for having read it.
You May Like: Ways To Combat Anxiety And Depression
Delayed Recovery And Economic Change In America 19291939
This book has beencited by the following publications. This list is generated based on data provided by CrossRef.
Policy Analysis and Economics
- , Princeton University, New Jersey
- Publisher: Cambridge University Press
- Online publication date: July 2010
- Print publication year: 1987
-
Email your librarian or administrator to recommend adding this book to your organisation’s collection.
The Great Depression
Turning Point And Recovery
In most countries of the world, recovery from the Great Depression began in 1933. In the U.S., recovery began in early 1933, but the U.S. did not return to 1929 GNP for over a decade and still had an unemployment rate of about 15% in 1940, albeit down from the high of 25% in 1933.
There is no consensus among economists regarding the motive force for the U.S. economic expansion that continued through most of the Roosevelt years . The common view among most economists is that Roosevelt’s New Deal policies either caused or accelerated the recovery, although his policies were never aggressive enough to bring the economy completely out of recession. Some economists have also called attention to the positive effects from expectations of reflation and rising nominal interest rates that Roosevelt’s words and actions portended. It was the rollback of those same reflationary policies that led to the interruption of a recession beginning in late 1937. One contributing policy that reversed reflation was the Banking Act of 1935, which effectively raised reserve requirements, causing a monetary contraction that helped to thwart the recovery. GDP returned to its upward trend in 1938.
Recommended Reading: Can I Overcome Depression Without Medication
The Great Depression In Canada
| Article by |
| Last Edited |
The Great Depression of the early 1930s was a worldwide social and economic shock. Few countries were affected as severely as Canada. Millions of Canadians were left unemployed, hungry and often homeless. The decade became known as the Dirty Thirties due to a crippling drought in the Prairies, as well as Canadas dependence on raw material and farm exports. Widespread losses of jobs and savings transformed the country. The Depression triggered the birth of social welfare and the rise of populist political movements. It also led the government to take a more activist role in the economy.
What Is My Book About
Germany’s financial collapse in the summer of 1931 was one of the biggest economic catastrophes of modern history. It led to a global panic, brought down the international monetary system, and turned a worldwide recession into a prolonged depression. The crisis also contributed decisively to the rise of Hitler. Within little more than a year of its onset, the Nazis were Germany’s largest political party at both the regional and national level, paving the way for Hitler’s eventual seizure of power in January 1933.
- Buy this book at:
When you buy a book we may earn a small commission.
Don’t Miss: How To Beat Your Depression
World War Ii And Recovery
The common view among economic historians is that the Great Depression ended with the advent of World War II. Many economists believe that government spending on the war caused or at least accelerated recovery from the Great Depression, though some consider that it did not play a very large role in the recovery, though it did help in reducing unemployment.
The rearmament policies leading up to World War II helped stimulate the economies of Europe in 19371939. By 1937, unemployment in Britain had fallen to 1.5 million. The mobilization of manpower following the outbreak of war in 1939 ended unemployment.
When the United States entered the war in 1941, it finally eliminated the last effects from the Great Depression and brought the U.S. unemployment rate down below 10%. In the US, massive war spending doubled economic growth rates, either masking the effects of the Depression or essentially ending the Depression. Businessmen ignored the mounting national debt and heavy new taxes, redoubling their efforts for greater output to take advantage of generous government contracts.
Best Books On The Great Depression
The year was 1929, and it was autumn. Although share prices dropped dramatically at the start of September, nobody could have predicted the ramifications of such a decrease. However, on October 29, also known as Black Tuesday, the stock industry in the United States had entirely collapsed. What ensued was an economic catastrophe unlike any other, one that rippled around the world and lasted the entire 1930s. Money was scarce, regardless of if you were wealthy or impoverished. Global commerce has slowed, while unemployment rates have risen to alarming levels. In spite of the challenges, people carried on with their livelihoods and fought bravely.
From Plennie Wingos career-high trips to an old mans covert acts of compassion, the featured works about the Great Depression taught us that some people became legends. Others experienced additional challenges, such as house-destroying dust storms, while an entire nation underwent a dramatic culinary transformation. Whichever the case, the books listed below reveal remarkable stories of heroism, transformation, and fraud throughout the Great Depression, which lasted from 1929 to 1939. These books will be perfect for you if you are a fan of learning history and is particularly interested in learning about the great depression which is one of the darkest ages in human history.
You May Like: Depressed And No One Cares