...'The USA was hit by the Great Depression in 1929 because of increasing restrictions on international trade.' How far do you agree with this opinion? Use Sources 7, 8 and 9 and your own knowledge. The USA was hit by the Great Depression in 1929 because of increasing restrictions on international trade to a small extent, as it was indeed a significant factor in creating the onset of the Great Depression, as it acted as one of the long-term problems with the US economic system. Source 7 supports this argument, and suggests that it made world trade more difficult as it led to the USA not being able to 'expand its foreign markets as rapidly as its production'. However, other factors could also be considered to have started the Great Depression more significantly, with source 8 suggesting that it was due to long-term problems in the economy associated with a lack of purchasing power and the effects of the Wall Street Crash, along with source 9 demonstrating that it was due to the laissez-faire policies pursued by the Coolidge administration. The USA was arguably hit by the Great Depression in 1929 because of the combination of under consumption and overproduction linked to the maldistribution of wealth in US society during the 1920s. The problem with under consumption was mainly due to the fact that a substantial segment of the population that was farmers and workers in declining industries had not shared in the general prosperity of the early 1920s. In 1929, American farmers...
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...Bernanke's, and Liaquat's, and indeed all socialist monetarists', opinion is that rigid adherence to the gold standard "caused" the crash and depression of 1929-39 and beyond. But, as Bernanke and Liaquat admit, the central bankers of the post-war period in somes cases (France and the US quite openly and purposefully) "sterilized" their gold so that the money supply did not expand when needed but in fact contracted. So it was a failure to follow the gold standard rather than gold itself which was the culprit. Nor do either Bernanke nor Ahamed explain why the gold standard worked quite well for a century before WW1, although Bernanke admits that is an "unexplained" issue. While acknowledging the long history of the gold standard and its importance in the development of central banking, Ben Bernanke made crystal clear that we're never going back to the gold standard. He explained that the argument supporting the gold standard has two parts: 1) the "desire to maintain the value of the dollar"—implying a "desire to have very low price stability, and 2) an aversion to allowing "the central bank to respond with monetary policy to booms and busts," explaining that "the advocates of the gold standard don't want to give the central bank that power." But regardless of the impetus for these arguments, he explains, a return to the gold standard now "would not be practical for monetary reasons or policy reasons": Bernanke pointed out various reasons that there's simply "not enough gold" to...
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...Introduction The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in 1930 and lasted until the late 1930s or middle 1940s.1 This depression was the longest, deepest, and most widespread depression of the 20th century. As we all known, the Great Depression began at September 4, 1929, with the sudden fall in stock prices, and rapidly became worldwide news with the stock market crash of October 29, 1929 (known as Black Tuesday). It started from USA, and quickly sweep European countries as well as all over the world. This crisis had huge impact on all the people across the world, various industries, economic fields, and all the social life. Personal income, tax revenue, profits and prices dropped, while international trade plunged by more than 50%. Unemployment in the U.S. rose to 25%, and in some countries rose as high as 33 %2. The Features of the Great Depression Compared with all the crisis happened before and after, this crisis gets some distinct features: firstly, the scope of the influence of the great depression is so wide. At that time, USA was the most powerful country in the world as well as the biggest creditor country. The American finance had close connection with all the capitalist countries and the international business market. The crisis spread from American to the vital capitalist countries Germany, Japan, Britain and France...
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...THE CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF THE WALL STREET CRASH AND THE GREAT DEPRESSION The economic boom of the 1920’s came to a sudden end in October 29, 1929. In June 1929 prices of stocks and shares had reached new highs. The Stock Market seemed to be a quick and easy way to get rich. The Stock Market is the place where stocks are traded. More and more people wanted to ‘play the market’ (Buy and sell stocks). [pic] The Wall Street stock market (located in New York City) was not regulated .Anybody could buy shares and they could be bought ‘on the margin’-This is when the stock broker and the stock holder merge their money to buy stocks, for example, people could buy $1000 worth of stocks for only $100 and borrowed the rest from stockbroker. Buying on the margin became a common practice. People waited for the share prices to go up again and then resold their shares for a profit. It was usually easy to pay back the loan and still make money. The day of the crash: By the summer of 1929 there were 20 million shareholders in America and prices continued to rise. But in October 1929, things began to change. Some people realized that share prices had risen too high and wanted to sell before they fell. THE CAUSES OF THE WALL STREET CRASH 1. OVERPRODUCUCTION- New mass-production methods and mechanization Meant that production of consumer goods had expanded enormously. In fact, there was overproduction (more being made than could be consumed).The market was becoming...
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...Great Depression Causes and Effects Introduction: October 29th, 1929 would be a historical day for United States. It was enter in a new period, which was “The Great Depression” period. Great Depression lasted for 10 years. October 24th is known as the “Black Thursday”, because the amount of selling share stock was tripled. The share prices were lower, which caused the crash of the stock market. The collapse of the stock market was thought to be the main cause of the great depression, but many economists do not think so. Great Depression very quickly was spread all over the world. The Great Depression was a period of high rates unemployment, bankrupting banks, lowering prices, and increasing the uncertainty to American nation. Moreover, it brought big changes in U.S politic, society and culture. In the beginning of the Great Depression Hoover was president of U.S. He made a lot of new reforms in order to face the Great Depression, but they were not successful. People were tired with Robert Hoover’s fail. All they needed was a new leader to get them out of that bed situation. Because of these, in the elections of 1929, most of American citizens voted for the Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt brought in a lot of changes in economy, politic, social and cultural life of Americans. His major programs were the New Deal (First Hundred Days) and the Second New Deal. These programs were very effective. The number of unemployment rate was lower comparing with...
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...After the war ended in 1918, it left the USA as the greatest economic power in the world. It had not experiences the financial and physical damage that other European nations had. Industries had been boosted by war time production and they were owed a colossal amount of money by other countries. In 1928, the USA was still enjoying the effects of the economic boom, whilst Herbert Hoover was elected president. He predicted an end to poverty in the USA. However, in 1929, the Wall Street stock market crashed. It was said to have occurred for many reasons, including the decrease in demands for American products by the end of the 1920s. In autumn 1929, profits weren’t made by American firms for some reason, cautious investigators began to realise that falling profits would lead to a drop in share prices, therefore people began to sell their shares. As a result of all this, the Great Depression followed up. This made 13 million people unemployed. Unemployment worsened with the non-available alternate jobs and total dependency on primary sector industries. There were many more factors as to why unemployment had doubled: Cut backs in business and government expenditures, low credit availability that added to debt by borrowing and deflation in prices of consumer goods, made worse by the drop in wages. In 1929, the rate of unemployment was 3.2%, a year later it rose to 8.9% due to the effects of the Great Depression. Every year after that it rose drastically, 1933 being the highest unemployment...
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...Great Depression Causes and Effects Introduction: October 29th, 1929 would be a historical day for United States. It was enter in a new period, which was “The Great Depression” period. Great Depression lasted for 10 years. October 24th is known as the “Black Thursday”, because the amount of selling share stock was tripled. The share prices were lower, which caused the crash of the stock market. The collapse of the stock market was thought to be the main cause of the great depression, but many economists do not think so. Great Depression very quickly was spread all over the world. The Great Depression was a period of high rates unemployment, bankrupting banks, lowering prices, and increasing the uncertainty to American nation. Moreover, it brought big changes in U.S politic, society and culture. In the beginning of the Great Depression Hoover was president of U.S. He made a lot of new reforms in order to face the Great Depression, but they were not successful. People were tired with Robert Hoover’s fail. All they needed was a new leader to get them out of that bed situation. Because of these, in the elections of 1929, most of American citizens voted for the Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt brought in a lot of changes in economy, politic, social and cultural life of Americans. His major programs were the New Deal (First Hundred Days) and the Second New Deal. These programs were very effective. The number of unemployment rate was lower comparing with...
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...In general the economy tends to experience different trends. These trends can be grouped as the business/trade cycle and may contain a boom, recession, depression and recovery. A business/trade cycle is the periodic but irregular up-and-down movements in economic activity, measured by fluctuations in real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and other macroeconomic variables. Samuelson and Nordhaus (1998), defined it as ‘a swing in total national input, income and employment, usually lasting for a period of 2 to 10 years, marked by widespread expansion or contraction in most sectors of the economy’. These fluctuations in economic activity usually have implications on employment, consumption, business confidence, investment and output. The Keynesian Approach, this theory shows how the collaboration of multiplier and accelerator can lead to regular cycles in aggregate demand. The Keynesians believe that economic activity is generally unstable and is subject to inconsistent shocks, usually causing the economic fluctuations and are attributed to the changes in autonomous expenditures especially investment. The Keynesian approach is pretty simple; higher investment will lead to a larger rise in income and output in the short run. This means that consumers will spend some of their income on consumption goods. This will give rise to further increase in expenditure. Ceteris paribus an initial rise in autonomous investment produces a more than proportionate rise in income. The rise...
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...Michael Borukhov New Deal was Successful The United States of American hit a tragic point in the 1930’s as we know it today as the great depression. The reasons that lead to the great depression were the Wall Street crash of 1929. This capitalist economy held the rich in a beneficial position and the poor in a horrific position when this economy collapsed the poor did not bear the suffering it was the rich. Unemployment and various other effects of depression hit the US hard as a result. The main cause of this depression can be attributed to the Wall Street crash, tariffs on foreign goods, a massive poverty gap, overproduction and speculation and other factors. By 1932 Unemployment was over 25 million. The New Deal was successful because it helped decrease unemployment rate through different programs it implemented. Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s objectives were to revitalize the economy as the aftermath of the depression. The way he can/would do so is to bring the unemployment rate down. Roosevelt also wanted women and African Americans to have more rights. He asked “Congress to fund relief for millions of unemployed Americans. In May, Congress established the Federal Relief Administration (FERA)”(742) Shortly after in November of 1933, Roosevelt established the Civil Works Administration that put 2.6 million men and women to work 1929 | 2.6 million | 1933 | 15 million | 1935 | 11 million | 1937 | 8.3 million | 1938 | 10.5 million | 1939 | 9.2 million...
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...The Great Depression of 1929 which originated in the United States of America was one of the worst times for the history of the USA’s economy.It started by the end of 1929 and lasted till 1933. It started as a recession which was getting worse and industrial output in the USA decreased by 47% and Gross Domestic Product fell by 30%(Duignan3 ). Unemployment had increased more than 20% at the worst times of the depression that lasted until 1933. The Great depression spread to almost every country in the world, ranging from Europe to Latin America and Asia. The causes of the great depression had been very controversial among scholars who studied that period. Ben Bernanke has said before, “to understand the Great Depression is the Holy Grail of...
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...for the Great Depression? A. Plan of the Investigation 1 B. Summary of Evidence 1 C. Evaluation of Sources 3 D. Analysis 5 E. Conclusion 7 F. Bibliography 8 A. Plan of the investigation The investigation considers the extent to which the Wall Street Crash was the main cause for the Great Depression that hit the Unites States throughout the 1930s, whose effects were spread worldwide. For this purpose the investigation assesses the significance of the crash in the stock market in relation to other factors that were also relevant. Through the selection and summary of relevant written sources, the investigation examines the 1920’s the domestic and international problems during the “prosperous” years that triggered the crisis. In order to reach a conclusion two of the sources: The Great Depression by Lionel Robbins and The Great Depression and The New Deal by Robert F. Himmelberg are evaluated for their origin, purpose, values and limitations. Word count: 120 B. Summary of evidence By the time the United States entered the First World War in 1917, the USA was the world’s biggest economic power[1]. Its role in providing extra equipment and a supply of fresh soldiers was instrumental in the final Allied victory[2]. The artificial prosperity of the war years was followed by an inevitable collapse[3]. After a short recession between 1920 and 1922, the USA began a...
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...The Great Depression of 1929 put into context of the Global Financial crisis Economic development over the last years has been very volatile, so many comparisons have been made to past economic crises. This incident puts the Great Depression into a very recent context. The aim this paper is to outline the causes and effects of the Great Depression for both the USA and Europe. The Great Depression which started in October 1929 turned into the most severe global economic slump ever. After a brief introduction to the topic more detailed background information has been provided. The initial economic downturn directly tied in with the boom years of the Golden Twenties. It was mainly caused by over leveraged speculation and a decrease in the value of gold. The effects on the population in America and Europe were especially unemployment and the vaporization of saving because of an enormous stock market crash. For the economy the Great Depression meant that international trade nearly came to a standstill and a vicious circle was created as banks failed and credit was barely available. As a reaction to the Great Depression stock market- and banking regulations were put in place and welfare systems have been introduced in America and Great Britain. A step to fight the ongoing crisis was the foundation of the Salvation Army. The entrance into World War II marked a major mile stone for America. Especially new warfare related industries gave labour to American women while...
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... Task for Assignment II: Compare and contrast 1929 – 39 Great Depression and current global economic crisis with respect to causes and responses and actions of monetary authorities to this crisis. Introduction “…In the old days, we used to suffer nearly periodic economic crises, the sudden onset of which was called a "panic", and the lingering trough period after the panic was called "depression". The most famous depression in modern times, of course, was the one that began in a typical financial panic in 1929 and lasted until the advent of World War II. After the disaster of 1929, economists and politicians resolved that this must never happen again. The easiest way of succeeding at this resolve was, simply to define "depressions" out of existence. From that point on, America was to suffer no further depressions. For when the next sharp depression came along, in 1937-38, the economists simply refused to use the dread name, and came up with a new, much softer-sounding word: "recession". From that point on, we have been through quite a few recessions, but not a single depression. But pretty soon the word "recession" also became too harsh for the delicate sensibilities of the American public. It now seems that we had our last recession in 1957-58. For since then, we have only had "downturns", or, even better, "slowdowns", or "sidewise movements". So be of good cheer; from now on, depressions and even recessions have been outlawed by the semantic fiat of...
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...previous incumbent, President Hoover. In his inaugural address he revealed his aims as to what he hoped to achieve with the New Deal. FDR’s aim was to achieve an economic recovery in order to stabilise the nation once again, hopefully returning to the economic prosperity of the 1920’s. However, historians often debate whether he achieved what he set out to do with his reforms, as unemployment was still present throughout his tenure, and social and economic development across all the states remained unequal. Despite the first one hundred days of the New Deal supposedly creating “an organised nation confident of their power to provide for their own”, criticism has been aimed at it claiming, “The New Deal, rather than helping to cure the Depression, actually helped to prolong it.” Despite these claims, others have praised the program saying that the reforms brought “structural stability and social security” to the nation. To evaluate these conflicting opinions, one must analyse the different areas that FDR focussed on which were: unemployment, redistribution of wealth, economic recovery and development of the Nation itself. 405 405 In the opening of FDR’s inaugural address he says that the “primary task is to put people to work”. In 1933 FDR quickly introduced three key agencies, which focussed on eliminating the unemployment problem. They were the Public Works Administration (PWA), Civil Works Administration (CWA) and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The PWA and CWA aimed...
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...context which of these two sources is more valuable at explaining the impact of the Great Depression on Germany? [25 marks] German artist Lea Gruding recalls in her autobiography that the unemployed suffered massively during the great depression not only financially but mentally, having no job to go to anymore. This source was published in 1964, 35 years after the Great Depression making it a secondary source. Some may argue that due to it being a secondary source it is less reliable as it wasn’t written primarily at the time and could differ from the actual events that happened during the Depression. It also maybe exaggerated. Despite this however Gruding doesn’t use statistical evidence which means even though this source could be exaggerated it is not numerically exaggerated. This source on the other hand from historical knowledge is fairly accurate and so is useful because what happened in Germany during the time is represented accurately. It’s true the Weimar Republic was devastated by the Wall Street Crash of October 1929 and the Great Depression that followed. The Crash had a devastating impact on the American economy but because America had propped up the Weimar Republic with huge loans in 1924 (the Dawes Plan) and in 1929 (the Young Plan), what happened to the American economy impacted the Weimar Republic’s economy and society due to them being so dependent on American loans (the USA was also Germany’s biggest trading partner which affected Germany massively). America...
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