...FROM CLASSICAL TO KENYESSIAN ECONOMICS Great Depression In the 1930s, American capitalism practically stopped working.For more than a decade, from 1929 to 1940, America's free-market economy failed to operate at a level that allowed most Americans to attain economic success. The depth economic collapse and social disarray that mired America then was unprecedented. * By 1933, the country's GNP had fallen to barely half its 1929 level12. * Industrial production fell by more than half, and construction of new industrial plants fell by more than 90%. Production of automobiles dropped by two-thirds; steel plants operated at 12% of capacity. * More than 13 million Americans lost their jobs. Of those, 62% found themselves out of work for longer than a year; 44% longer than two years; 24% longer than three years; and 11% longer than four years. Unemployment peaked at a staggering 24.1% in 1933. * The financial meltdown initiated by Wall Street's Great Crash of 1929 caused billions of dollars in assets to vanish into thin air. Wealthy Americans—who owned almost all the nation's stocks at the time—were walloped by an 80% decline in the value of the stock market. * Even more troubling to the entire population were rampant bank failures—between 1929 and 1933, two out of every five banks in America collapsed, causing more than $7 billion of their customers' hard-earned money to evaporate. Factors responsible The stock market crash of October of 1929. * The...
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...the Roaring Twenties was soon followed by a severe worldwide economic depression. In 1929, the Great Depression began in the United States. By the time the economy hit rock bottom in 1933, real GDP plunged nearly 30%. Real per capita disposable income sank nearly 40%. More than 12 million people were thrown out of work; the unemployment rate soared from 3% in 1929 to 25% in 1933. Some 85,000 businesses failed. Hundreds of thousands of families lost their homes (Wheelock 2008). The money supply had fallen 35%, prices plummeted by about 33%, and more than one-third of banks in the United States were either closed or taken over by other banks (Parker 2010) . Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz, in their 1963 book A Monetary History of the United States, 1867–1960, call this massive drop in the supply of money “The Great Contraction.” Monetarists, including Friedman, argue that the Great Depression was mainly caused by this monetary contraction, poor policy-making by the American Federal System, and continued crisis in the banking system. While there are many credited theories that provide an explanation for the Depression, this essay will focus on Monetarism and John Maynard Keynes’s argument for government stimulus in order to combat the economic downturn. Causes For The Great Depression In their book A Monetary History of the United States, 1867–1960, Friedman and Anna Schwartz stated that the Depression began with America’s weak banking system (Friedman et al. 1971). From 1930-1933...
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...Chapter 1 What is Macroeconomics? ( Chapter Outline 1. How Macroeconomics Affects Our Everyday Lives (a) The “Big Three” Concepts of Macroeconomics 2. Defining Macroeconomics (a) How Macroeconomics Differs from Microeconomics (b) Economic Theory: A Process of Simplification 3. Actual and Natural Real GDP (a) Unemployment: Actual and Natural (b) Real GDP and the Three Macro Concepts 4. Macroeconomics in the Short Run and Long Run (a) The Short Run: Business Cycles (b) Business Cycle Concepts (c) The Long Run: Economic Growth 5. Case Study: A Century of Business Cycles (a) Real GDP (b) Unemployment 6. Macroeconomics at the Extremes (a) Unemployment in the Great Depression, 1929–40 (b) The German Hyperinflation of 1922–23 (c) Fast and Slow Growth in Asia 7. Taming Business Cycles: Stabilization Policy (a) The Role of Stabilization Policy 8. The “Internationalization” of Macroeconomics IP* Box: How Does U.S. Economic Performance Rank? ( Chapter Overview Chapter 1 begins by introducing a set of three central macroeconomic concepts, called the “Big Three Concepts of Macroeconomics. They are the unemployment rate, the inflation rate, and productivity growth. Introducing the field of macroeconomics to students in this way has an important advantage. It facilitates the early introduction and definition of basic macroeconomic terminology, which gives students a chance to get used to thinking of macroeconomic issues in terms...
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...Situation. Current Macroeconomic Situation. Ibrahim Vohra 12/1/2010 Lotti_Charming@hotmail.com Current Macroeconomic situation. Introduction. As far as I know, recession is what's on everyone's mind and what probably should be on Mr. Bernanke's mind. Inflation has been pretty high though (e.g. the price of commodities) but the tools available to them to fight recession and inflation are usu. contrary to each other, so inflation should take a back seat for now. Of course we could be in for stagflation in the near future. A stable recovery. The general concern (shrinking, but still present) is that the U.S. economy could sink into another recession creating a double bottom recovery pattern (as opposed to a V shaped recovery)(Spencer 2009). The U.S. Congress has done a good job at not spooking the markets. If the markets believed that the Fed would be raising the interest rates, the economy could slip into another recession. Ben Bernanke has promised to keep interest rates "exceptionally low for an extended period of time." As we move past the point where recession is a concern, inflation and security bubbles become the next concern. We know the Fed is going to raise rates, but when and by how much? No one’s knows that at all.(Spencer 2009) The Main macroeconomics theory is: Classical-Keynesian...
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...John Maynard Keynes He was a famous economist born on 5th June 1883. His father was an economics professor at Cambridge. son of a Cambridge economics professor If ever there was a rock star of economics, it would be John Maynard Keynes. Keynes shares his birthday, June 5th, with Adam Smith and he was born in 1883, the year communist founder Karl Marx died. With these auspicious signs, Keynes seemed to be destined to become a powerful free market force when the world was facing a serious choice between communism or capitalism. Instead, he offered a third way, which turned the world of economics upside down. In this article, we'll examine Keynes' doctrine and its impact. (To read about Adam Smith, be sure to check out Adam Smith: The Father Of Economics.) Keynes was ultimately a successful investor, building up a private fortune. His assets were nearly wiped out following the Stock Market Crash of 1929, which he failed to foresee, but he soon recouped. At Keynes's death, in 1946, his worth stood just short of £500,000 – equivalent to about £11 million ($16.5 million) in 2009. His first prediction was a critique of the reparation payments that were levied against the defeated Germany after WWI. Keynes rightly pointed out that having to pay out the cost of the entire war would force Germany into hyperinflation and have negative consequences all over Europe. He followed this up by predicting that a return to the prewar fixed exchange rate sought by the chancellor of the exchequer...
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...When the company spend money on these things, the amount will be included in GDP; also count, when a person to it, the company will count twice the number, only corresponds to a group of products. The purchase of bonds or shares is the exchange of contracts, the transfer of future production of claims, rather than direct product expenditure. A major decline in the real GDP is calling as the recession. A long and deep recession is calling as the depression. The top point of the economy is called as the peak. When the economy is at the peak, it probably show that the country is in the top or the highest point of the economy. In opposite, the bottom point of the economy is called as the trough. If you are reading the statistic, it must be clearly showing out that the production, employment or other that is related with the GDP are in the lowest point of the economy. At this moment, we can also called it as the depression if this situation remain in a long period recession. The shift from the peak to trough or the trough back to peak is called as the Business Circle. So on, when the business circle is at peak, the production of output...
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...The video discusses many important facts and events that have happened between 1917 through 1945 that shaped economic development. John Maynard Keynes is said to be the inventor of macroeconomics. He helped to get the British government organized in World War I. Keynes was not a fan of reparations which meant having Germany fund the cost of the war. Since the British continued to go after Germany to have them pay for the war Keynes decided to go back to England where he resigned. Since he resigned Keynes wrote a book The Economic Consequences of Peace. In 1931 Keynes wrote another book about the Great Depression and how to fix it. The book was called General Theory and was published in 1936. Friedrich Von Hayek who once was part of the socialist group. Where the concern for the poor and fairness would help the government’s policies. While Hayek was at the University of Vienna he began to socialize with Ludwig Von Mises. Von Mises believed that the government does not need to be involved in the people’s markets. They believed that the market will take care of itself. Hayek believed that inflation was evil and it became his main focus in economic philosophy. In 1944 Hayek wrote The Road to Serfdom because he was afraid that the ideas of Keynes was sending the world down the wrong path. Hayek’s book discussed that if the government has too much say then the government has to power. When the government has too much then it ruins the freedom and makes people slaves. In...
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...with the fall-out from the financial crash of 2008 and the Great Recession of 2007–2009. The economic crisis that these events have generated, combined with the failure of the mainstream economics profession, has again put the question of change on the table. The economics profession stands significantly discredited owing to its failure to foresee the recession and the financial crash, its repeated over-optimistic forecasts of rapid recovery, and the lack of plausibility surrounding its attempts to explain events. Reasonable people do not expect economists to predict the daily movements of the stock market, but they do expect them to anticipate and explain major imminent economic developments. On that score, the profession failed catastrophically, revealing fundamental theoretical inadequacies. This intellectual failure has prompted us to launch the Review of Keynesian Economics. At a time of journal proliferation, some may wonder about the need for another journal. We would respond there is a proliferation of journals, but that proliferation is essentially within one intellectual paradigm. As such, it obscures the fact that the range of theoretical inquiry is actually very narrow. A journal devoted to Keynesian economics is therefore needed, both to correct this narrowness and because events have once again confirmed the profound relevance of Keynesian theory. Reflection upon the intellectual history of macroeconomics over the past 75 years can help to understand the current predicament...
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...Gross Domestic product (GDP) of the United States for the years 1930 to 2014. Real GDP is essential and important as it shows the general soundness of the economy. Thus, when real GDP is high it means other macroeconomic factors such as employment and economic growth are positive and vice versa. This is because real GDP is substantially correlated to these macroeconomic factors. Therefore, the chart above shows that America’s GDP has been growing steadily over the years. This consistent growth has seen to it that America’s real GDP hit a high of 16.16 trillion U.S. dollars up from a low of around 1.06 trillion U.S. dollars in 1930. It is also apparent that the steady growth in the real GDP has led to many significant improvements in the economy and standards of living. Thus, it is evident that the standards of living and other macroeconomic factors are better now than in the mid nineteen hundreds (OpenStax College, 2014). Further, statistical and economic analysis shows that the real GDP of America has an average median and mean of approximately 6.34 and 7.20 trillion dollars respectively (Shiller, 2015). This is caused by the various cyclical changes in the economy. Despite the steady growth in real GDP the U.S. economy has experienced several recessions, depressions and expansions. These have led to several business cycles...
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...Keynesian Economics Before World War II the economy was in ruins. The great depression was tearing the country apart. With twenty-five percent unemployment and poverty at an all time high, it was time for a change from the passive economics of the past. WWII led to a stimulation of the economy through spending and the economy thrived. Keynesian theories were correct and the United States adapted it's policies to Keynes's ideas. Keynesian economics are a worthy foundation to modern macroeconomics. Keynesian economics acknowledge the presence of human irrationality in economics because of the proclivity of humans to act instinctually or emotionally. This can easily evident because of the presence of very long economic recessions or depressions. If humans were rational clearly it would be true that a depression lasting many years would be impossible because the economy would easily self correct in the long run, but sometimes the long run never appears. Another evidence of the irrationality of humans is a series of experiments performed at the University of Chicago. Among these experiments was one that auctioned a twenty dollar among the participants. The highest bidder would get the bill, but the second highest would still have to pay. The bill was auctioned for twenty-eight dollars, which is clearly higher than the value of the bill. Paying more money than what something is worth is irrational because the utility of the bill is out numbered by its cost, which is easily...
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...of Macroeconomics by Smriti Chand Macro Economics The Nature and Scope of Macroeconomics! Introduction: The term ‘macro’ was first used in economics by Ragner Frisch in 1933. But as a methodological approach to economic problems, it originated with the Mercantilists in the 16th and 17th centuries. They were concerned with the economic system as a whole. In the 18th century, the Physiocrats adopted it in their Table Economies to show the ‘circulation of wealth’ (i.e., the net product) among the three classes represented by farmers, landowners and the sterile class. Malthus, Sismondi and Marx in the 19th century dealt with macroeconomic problems. Walras, Wicksell and Fisher were the modern contributors to the development of macroeconomic analysis before Keynes. Certain economists, like Cassel, Marshall, Pigou, Robertson, Hayek and Hawtrey, developed a theory of money and general prices in the decade following the First World War. But credit goes to Keynes who finally developed a general theory of income, output and employment in the wake of the Great Depression. Contents: Nature of Macroeconomics Difference between Microeconomics and Macroeconomics Dependence of Microeconomic Theory on Macroeconomics Dependence of Macroeconomics on Microeconomic Theory Macro Statics, Macro Dynamics and Comparative Statics Transition from Microeconomics to Macroeconomics Stock and Flow Concepts 1. Nature of Macroeconomics:________________________________________ Macroeconomics is the...
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...Assignment 1.The first age of globalization came to an abrupt and painful end with the economic and financial crisis that engulfed the world starting in 1929. Is globalization again at risk as a result of our current global economic and financial crisis? What similarities between the two episodes suggest that globalization is again at risk? What differences suggest that it is not? What is your evaluation of the risks, at the moment, on balance? In Addition, READ the attached article: G20 Process- from the economist. First of all it is important to understand the socio-economic, politic and geographic situation that both 1929 and 2008 crises were based. The great depression which originated in 1929 in US and spread world over by 1930’s was characterized by barren business and huge unemployment. The main cause of this depression which took all the nations towards financial crises was crashing of the stock markets in 1929. Thousands of investors lost their money in stock markets, leading to a longest recession which comprised huge layoffs, unemployment , wiping out of business activities and which left millions of people depending on government or charity for food. Both episodes were preceded by rapid credit expansion and financial innovation that led to high leverage. However, while the 1920s credit boom was largely US-specific, the 2004-07 boom was global. With much higher levels of real and financial integration than during the interwar period, a US financial shock now has a larger...
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...Fundamentals of Macroeconomics JoRenie Armstrong ECO/372 March 23, 2015 Yohannes Mariam Fundamentals of Macroeconomics Fundamentals of Macroeconomics economic principles apply and affect the entire economic system that encompass the world. Macroeconomics directly impact every part of our government and every individual’s quality of life. The health of the nation’s economy affects our economy. A few areas that determine economic health are the gross domestic product (GDP), gross national product (GNP) the unemployment rate, the inflation rate, and taxes. The Principle areas of Macroeconomics covered in this paper examines the flow of resources between three entities - government, businesses, and individual households. Their interconnecting relationships of how various economic activities connect and affect one another verbalized from the author’s perspective. Households Daily acts, such as buying groceries has an enormous impact on our economy. Purchasing groceries on a regular basis directly affect the GDP. Consumer spending is a driving force of a nation’s economic health. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) defined is the final monetary measurement of a country’s production activities, of goods and services, bought by the end users in a given period. Purchasing groceries for consumption is part of the GDP collection process. This factor is how individual household purchases affect the nation’s economy. In times of a recession, consumers spending decreases. Consumers...
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...three factors which are known as independent monetary policy, free capital flows, exchange rate stability. The impossible trinity:- The impossible trinity is a set of three desirable factors which a country wants to achieve but as a matter of fact only two factors are possible to achieve. Its economical diagram is as the following:- Theoretical derivation:- The official representation fundamental the theory is the uncovered Interest Rate Parity condition which condition that in nonattendance of a risk premium, arbitrage will make sure that the reduction or approval of a country's money, another will be equivalent to the nominal interest rate degree of difference between them. Since under a dowel, the swap rate cannot alter, short of depression or desertion of the dowel, this means that the two countries' supposed notice rates have to be steady. This in revolve implies that the peg state has no aptitude to set its supposed interest rate, and hence no self-governing financial policy. The only way then that the state...
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...Macroeconomics Jennifer Swanson Professor Hector Morales 12/09/2012 Macroeconomics……………………….………………….………………………... page 3 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………....... page 4 References………………………………………………………………………....... page 5 Macroeconomics The macroeconomic situations in the United States are worrisome, as is the rest of the world. Unemployment is at a steady high, there’s a staggering inflation and the recession continues to effect people after so many years. The 2008 Financial Crisis had a more detrimental impact on advanced economies like the US than on developing economies like China and India, leading to wider projected disparities between the future GDP growth rates of the advanced and developing economies. According to Trading Economics, “The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the United States expanded 2.70 percent in the third quarter of 2012 over the previous quarter. Historically, from 1947 until 2012, the United States GDP Growth Rate averaged 3.2 Percent reaching an all-time high of 17.2 Percent in March of 1950 and a record low of -10.4 Percent in March of 1958.Unemployment Rate in the United States decreased to 7.70 percent in November of 2012 from 7.90 percent in October of 2012”. The recovery of the US job market has not taken off as many had expected and recently the economy added a disappointing number of available jobs. With the lack of jobs, unemployment rates continue to be an issue. The economy has lost more jobs...
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