The history of the Great Depression and financial failures

The history of the Great Depression is the account of a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939, marked by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and business failures around the world.

2 articles, 1 video, 1 book · about 1 hr 57 min of reading and viewing

The reading path

1. Read
   

   the history of the great depression · Wikipedia · 60+ min read

   Panic returned in December 1930, with a bank run on the Bank of United States, a former privately run bank bearing no relation to the U.S. government (not to be confused with the Federal Reserve). Unable to pay out to all of its creditors, the bank failed. Gold standard is a system in which currencies are fixed to gold. It was the primary transmission mechanism of the Great Depression: higher interest rates in countries pursuing deflation led to gold outflows from countries with lower interest rates, forcing countries that wanted to maintain the gold standard to reduce their money supply and domestic prices. During a five-day "bank holiday" in 1933, the Emergency Banking Act provided for reopening sound banks under Treasury supervision, with federal loans available if needed. The act was part of New Deal financial reforms intended to stimulate demand and help address the Depression.

2. Read
   The Great Depression · federalreservehistory.org · 8 min read

   Deflation is a fall in average prices. From the fall of 1930 through the winter of 1933, the money supply fell by nearly 30 percent, and this deflation increased debt burdens, reduced consumption, increased unemployment, and forced banks, firms, and individuals into bankruptcy.

3. Watch
   

   Economic Depression and Dictators: Crash Course European History #37 · YouTube · 17 min watch

   The economic depression set the stage for militaristic dictatorships in Germany, the Soviet Union, Japan and Spain. The crisis is tied to the political changes that followed.

4. Book
   

   The Great Depression: A Diary · Bookshop.org

   The Great Depression by Benjamin Roth describes how a young lawyer in Youngstown, Ohio, saw prosperity give way to crisis after the 1929 stock market crash, and how he formed theories about how a prudent person might survive hard times.

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