The Great Depression Research Paper

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Learning from the Great Depression Over the course of history, America has dealt with its share of economic troubles. One of America’s darkest moments, economically, came in the year of 1929. On October 29th, 1929 America’s stock market crashed. This would become what we now know as the Great Depression. The Great Depression lasted approximately ten years. The Great Depression affected the entire country. Seven decades later we experienced what is known as the Great Recession. This also affected many Americans economically. Both of these economic meltdowns share commonalities. The Great Depression caused a massive decline in consumer spending, as well as a sharp decline in industrial production. With this decline in industrial production, products began to pile up and were left unsold. With the decline in production, people were laid off simply because there was not a need to produce any more goods. Stock prices were unstable and eventually led to over sixteen million shares that would be traded. These sixteen million shares were traded in the midst of another meltdown. Five days later, almost thirteen million more shares were traded away. Almost twenty nine million worthless shares were traded in. Another cause to the Great Depression was this newly invented idea of buying on margin, otherwise known as buying on credit. Banks were lending massive amounts of money to people who could not pay the money back. This eventually caused the banks to run out of money and simply fail. Many Americans that bought on credit were forced into foreclosures and repossessions. By 1932, almost 6 million Americans were unemployed and having a hard time finding work. The local soup kitchens and shelters saw astronomical numbers at the time, which a... ... middle of paper ... ...x." Government Policies and the Collapse in Trade during the Great Depression. Vox EU, 27 Nov. 2009. Web. 24 Apr. 2014. Libecap, Gary D. "The Great Depression and the Regulating State: Federal Government Regulation of Agriculture: 1884-1970." NBER. The University of Chicago Press,, n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2014. Graham, John R., Sonali Hazarika, and Krishnamoorthy Narasimhan. "Corporate Governance, Debt, and Investment Policy during the Great Depression." NBER. National Bureau of Economic Research, 2011. Web. 24 Apr. 2014. "The Great Recession." State of Working America. Economic Policy Institute, n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2014. "Unemployment and Underemployment." State of Working America. Economic Policy Institute, n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2014. History.com Staff. "The Great Depression." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2009. Web. 22 Apr. 2014.

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