Great Depression in the United States

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be postponed. The economy reached bottom in the winter of 1932-33; then came four years of very rapid growth until 1937, when the Recession of 1937brought back 1934 levels of unemployment.[ The depression caused major political changes in America. Three years into the depression, Herbert Hoover lost the 1932 presidential election to Franklin Delano Roosevelt in a sweeping landslide. Roosevelt's economic recovery plan, the New Deal, instituted unprecedented programs for relief, recovery and reform, and brought about a major realignment of American politics.

Economic indicators
Change in economic indicators 1929-32
USA Britain France Germany
Industrial production -46% -23 -24 -41
Wholesale prices -32% -33 -34 -29
Foreign trade -70% -60 -54 -61
Unemployment +607% +129 +214 +232


Causes of the Great Depression


USA annual real GDP from 1910–60, with the years of the Great Depression (1929–1939) highlighted.

The causes of the Great Depression are still a matter ...

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to under consumption and overinvestment, malfeasance by bankers and industrialists, or incompetence by government officials. The only consensus viewpoint is that there was a large-scale lack of confidence. Unfortunately, once panic and deflation set in, many people believed they could make more money by keeping clear of the markets as prices got lower and lower and a given amount of money bought ever more goods.

Specific theories of cause

Debt deflation

Crowd at New York's American Union Bank during a bank run early in the Great Depression.

Crowd gathering on Wall Street after the1929 crash.

Main article: Debt deflation

Irving Fisher argued that the predominant factor ...

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