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Causes of great depression apworld history
Comparison between great depression and great recession
Comparison between great depression and great recession
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Great Depression
Great depression was one of the worst and first blow to the global economy. Initiated in 1930, the global economy witnessed a economic collapse. This kind of economic failure was never experienced before and the one that started in 1930’s lasted till 1939 and the magnitude of after effects were extreme and harsh for liberal and democratic economies. Most of major global economies were shaken with total production falling by 25-30%, unemployment rates touching sky high with 25% in USA and UK and 40% in germany. Stock Market Crashes, Bank Failures and a lot more left the governments ineffective and this lead the global economy to what we call today- ‘’Great Depression’’.
As for the cause of Great Depression, there is no one set of issues or cause that led to this economic disaster, but as per various economists and academicians, it was a mix outcome of interaction of complex set of factors; economical, social and political. Below are some factors that lead to Great Depression from 1930-1939:
Stock Market Bubble:
Post the era of World War I, Europe and Germany were trying to get back on their feets and it was only United States that was enjoying the win in the war. Both during and post the war, the US economy grew tremendously as Europe purchased more goods from US and also new innovations in technology, automobiles, electrical appliances were boon to US economy as profits went high that pushed up stock prices and gold reserves. Thus, US became world’s biggest credit nation. US started investing through FDI in Europe and Austria while at this time american investors believed and invested heavy amiunt on Stocks. With low margins, they were able to purchase multiple dollars stocks and thus stock market was ...
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...e objective of restoring prosperity and also allowed the formation of cartels and other anti-trust activities such as allowing minimum prices and restrciting capacity expansion and with monopoly profits of cartel holders, wages were still above market trend.
However, it was only during the ned of 1930’s when these policy of NIRA was replaced with Taft-Harley Act and thus labor hours began to rise. Further, the industrial wages were back in line with productivity and market trends and per capita hours worked were back to their normal lvel and depression was finally over in late 1939. (Ohanian)
Works Cited
Matziorinis, Kenneth. The Causes of the Great Depression: A Retrospective . Research Report. Montreal: McGill University, 2007. PDF Document.
Ohanian, Lee E. Why Did The Great Depression Last So Long? 5 January 2009. Web. 12 December 2013.
Gene Smiley, "Great Depression." The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics.2008. Library of Economics and Liberty. 12 May 2014. .
There were many causes for the Great Depression. The first and one of the largest was the stock market crash. Before 1929 the stock market was flourishing and everyone wanted to buy stocks. People were so confident in the stock market that they were buying “on margin”, which meant that brokers would lend them 10% of the money they invested (D1). The problems began when stocks were being over speculated. When people began to realize this, they began selling there shares. On October 29, 1929, 16 million shares were sold (D9). This day became known as “Black Thursday”, the day the stock market crashed (D12). The second reason was the overproduction of goods. Factories had already produced too many goods and now there was no demand for them. The government began to raise tariffs to protect Canadian industries but things only led downhill from there.
"The Great Depression." Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. History: Government and Politics. Detroit: Gale, 2009. Student Resources in Context. Web. 4 Dec. 2013.
A major cause of the Depression was that the pay of workers did not increase at all. Because of this, they couldn't afford manufactured goods. While the factories were still manufacturing goods, Americans weren't able to afford them and the factories made no money (Drewry and O'connor 559). Another major cause related to farmers. Farmers weren't doing to well because they were producing more crops and farm products than could be sold at high prices.
The Great Depression was in no way the only depression the country has ever seen, but it was one of the worst economic downfalls in the United States. As for North America and the United States, the Great Depression was the worst it had ever seen. In addition to North America, the Depression greatly affected Europe and other various countries throughout the world significantly during the 1920’s and 1930’s. The Great Depression was caused by the collapse of the Stock Market, which happened in October of 1929. The crash exhausted about forty percent of the paper values of common stocks. It was the worst depression due to the fact that at the time of the Great Depression the government involvement in the economy was higher than it had ever been. A unique government agency had been set up exclusively to prevent depressions and their related troubles for instance bank panics. All of ...
Post the era of World War I, of all the countries it was only USA which was in win win situation. Both during and post war times, US economy has seen a boom in their income with massive trade between Europe and Germany. As a result, the 1920’s turned out to be a prosperous decade for Americans and this led to birth of mass investments in stock markets. With increased income after the war, a lot of investors purchased stocks on margins and with US Stock Exchange going manifold from 1921 to 1929, investors earned hefty returns during this time epriod which created a stock market bubble in USA. However, in order to stop increasing prices of Stock, the Federal Reserve raised the interest rate sof loanabel funds which depressed the interest sensitive spending in many industries and as a result a record fall in stocks of these companies were seen and ultimately the stock bubble was finally burst. The fall was so dramatic that stock prices were even below the margins which investors had deposited with their brokers. As a reuslt, not only investor but even the brokerage firms went insolvent. Withing 2 days of 15-16 th October, Dow Jones fell by 33% and the event was referred to Great Crash of 1929. Thus with investors going insolvent, a major shock was seen in American aggregate demand. Consumer Purchase of durable goods and business investment fell sharply after the stock market crash. As a result, businesses experienced stock piling of their inventories and real output fell rapidly in 1929 and throughout 1930 in United States.
The Great Depression was the worst economic slump ever in U.S. history, and one which spread to virtually all of the industrialized world. The depression began in late 1929 and lasted for about a decade. Many factors played a role in bringing about the depression; however, the main cause for the Great Depression was the combination of the greatly unequal distribution of wealth throughout the 1920's, and the extensive stock
World War I came to an end in November of 1918, when the Treaty of Versailles was signed. This treaty ended the fighting and of many other results, it put the blame on Germany for the war. This resulted in Germany having to pay major reparation fee’s and put Germany in a financial hole. The treaty took away parts of Germany’s land and made it impossible for them to use their natural resources to profit from. The amount that Germany had to pay back was more then they could, and this started a chain reaction for the transfer of money. In 1924, The Dawes Plan was signed into action and the U.S. became a creditor nation. Germany owed around 32 billion in war reparations. They were unable to pay this, so the U.S. loaned Germany money, with that Germany paid European countries War Reparations, and with the reparation money they received, U.S exports were able to be bought. This benefited the U.S. because the loans would have to be paid back with interest, and it let the economy experience a boost because goods were able to be exported. The Dawes Plan boosted the American economy, while facilitating other European countries’ attempts to reestablish a stable financial state after World War One. This time period in the 1920’s is referred to as the ‘roaring twen...
The Great Depression occurred from 1929 and lasted to the early 1940’s. It was a deep and tragic period of time where everyone was affected in some capacity. This period marks the longest most widespread depression in American History. It has devastating effects to both the rich and poor. Cities all around the world were hit hard by this crisis.
N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2017. "The Great Depression Facts." Math. N.p., n.d. Web.
There are several causes of the Great Depression which Michiel Horn touches on throughout his writings. The initial tool that he used to help understand the situation was to look at statistical data from that time. Through use of this data, a greater understanding of the physical hardships could be quantified and compared to present day. The reading begins with statistics about the shocking rate of unemployment. In 1933, at the height of the depression, the unemployment rate was between 19.3and 27 percent. The industrial activity in 1933 was only 57 percent of the average activity for the years 1925-29. The causes for the Great Depression were easy to see, but hard to fix. The problems included the inability of foreign countries to purchase surplus goods produced by other countries. Before the Great Depression, the British used this tactic to stabilize the market. Unfort...
The Web. The Web. 27 Mar. 2014. The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. Henneman, George T., Sr. " The Great Depression.
The Great Depression was the deepest and longest-lasting economic downfall in the history of the United States. No event has yet to rival The Great Depression to the present day, although we have had recessions in the past, and some economic panics, fears. Thankfully, the United States of America has had its share of experiences from the foundation of this country and throughout its growth, many economic crises have occurred. In the United States, the Great Depression began soon after the stock market crash of October 1929, which sent Wall Street into a panic and wiped out millions of investors ("The Great Depression."). In turn, from this single tragic event, numerous amounts of chain reactions occurred.
"Great Depression in the United States." Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 2001. CD-ROM. 2001 ed. Microsoft Corporation. 2001
But when banks started to crash, that is when people started to panic and were trying to get their money back, millions of Americans lost fortunes. This caused companies to lose their values and no longer be able to afford to stay in business. William C. Durant joined the Rockefeller family and other financial giants to buy big stocks to prove to the people their assurance in the market, but they failed to stop a decline in prices. According to the website Globalyceum, US gross domestic product, in 1929 $103.6 billion, in 1930 $91.2, in 1931 $76.5, in 1932 $58.7, in 1933 $56.4. The total size of the American economy, restrained by gross local product, suddenly dropped following the crash on Wall Street from $103.6 billion to $66 billion.