The Origins of the Great
Depression
“To understand the Great Depression is the Holy Grail of macroeconomics”—Ben Bernanke
An Overview of the History of American Capitalism
--visions of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton
• --2 waves of industrialization
• --rise of Big Business and anti-trust measures
• --decentralized banking system (Federal Reserve System, 1913)
• --business cycles
• --performance
The Great Crash and its Aftermath
• --Great Crash, Fall of 1929
• --waves of bank panics, starting in 1930
• --protectionism (Smoot-Hawley tariff, 1930)
Readings:
• --Rauchway and Romer
Causes of the Great Depression
• --Great Crash
• --Policy Errors
• Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz, A Monetary History of the United States
• --Structuralists
The Great Depression and the Great Recession
• --Lessons Learned
The Origins of the Great
Depression
“To understand the Great Depression is the Holy Grail of macroeconomics”—Ben Bernanke
An Overview of the History of American Capitalism
--visions of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton
• --2 waves of industrialization
• --rise of Big Business and anti-trust measures
• --decentralized banking system (Federal Reserve System, 1913)
• --business cycles
• --performance
The Great Crash and its Aftermath
• --Great Crash, Fall of 1929
• --waves of bank panics, starting in 1930
• --protectionism (Smoot-Hawley tariff, 1930)
Readings:
• --Rauchway and Romer
Causes of the Great Depression
• --Great Crash
• --Policy Errors
• Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz, A Monetary History of the United States
• --Structuralists
The Great Depression and the Great Recession
• --Lessons Learned
The Origins of the Great
Depression
“To understand the Great Depression is the Holy Grail of macroeconomics”—Ben Bernanke
An Overview of the History of American Capitalism
--visions of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton
• --2 waves of industrialization
• --rise of Big Business and anti-trust measures
• --decentralized banking system (Federal Reserve System, 1913)
• --business cycles
• --performance
The Great Crash and its Aftermath
• --Great Crash, Fall of 1929
• --waves of bank panics, starting in 1930
• --protectionism (Smoot-Hawley tariff, 1930)
Readings:
• --Rauchway and Romer
Causes of the Great Depression
• --Great Crash
• --Policy Errors
• Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz, A Monetary History of the United States
• --Structuralists
The Great Depression and the Great Recession
• --Lessons Learned
The Origins of the Great
Depression
“To understand the Great Depression is the Holy Grail of macroeconomics”—Ben Bernanke
An Overview of the History of American Capitalism
--visions of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton
• --2 waves of industrialization
• --rise of Big Business and anti-trust measures
• --decentralized banking system (Federal Reserve System, 1913)
• --business cycles
• --performance
The Great Crash and its Aftermath
• --Great Crash, Fall of 1929
• --waves of bank panics, starting in 1930
• --protectionism (Smoot-Hawley tariff, 1930)
Readings:
• --Rauchway and Romer
Causes of the Great Depression
• --Great Crash
• --Policy Errors
• Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz, A Monetary History of the United States
• --Structuralists
The Great Depression and the Great Recession
• --Lessons Learned