Rethinking The Great Depression / Edition 1

by Gene Smiley

Overview

Synthesizing new economic research of recent decades, the author offers new insights and some surprising conclusions about the Great Depression.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	2901566634716
Publisher:	Dee, Ivan R. Publisher
Publication date:	10/01/2003
Series:	American Ways Series
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	5.45(w) x 8.56(h) x 0.59(d)

About the Author

Gene Smiley is professor of economics at Marquette University and a specialist in economic theory and American economic history. He has also written The American Economy in the Twentieth Century. He lives in Waukesha, Wisconsin.

Table of Contents

	Preface	ix
1	Prosperity Gives Way to the Great Depression	3
	Economic growth in the 1920s
	Declining industries
	Taxes, income distribution, and the stock market boom
	Initial stages of the great contraction
	The collapsing world economy
	Continuing decline, increasing unrest, and the final banking panic
	The state of the economy in March 1933
2	What Caused the Great Depression?	31
	A framework for analysis: markets, prices, and economic contractions
	Banks and the Federal Reserve System
	The gold standard
	Explaining the contraction: World War I dislocations, debts, and reparations
	Restoring the gold standard
	German hyperinflation
	Destabilizing gold flows and the deflationary policies
	Why the depression was more severe in the United States
3	The First New Deal, 1933-1935	71
	Roosevelt and his advisers
	Ending the financial crisis
	The First Hundred Days
	The first Agricultural Adjustment Act
	The National Industrial Recovery Act
	Slow recovery from 1933 to 1935
	End of the NRA
4	The Recovery Aborted, 1935-1939	105
	Recovery from 1935 to 1937
	Roosevelt swings to the left
	The 1937-1938 depression
	Why recovery was so slow
5	The Legacy of the Great Depression	133
	World War II and the rise of Keynesian economics
	Monetary policy after the Great Depression
	Growth of the federal government and federal fiscalism
	Intervention in agriculture
	The rise of social welfare programs
	International trade and finance
	Could it happen again?
	A Note on Sources	164
	Index	170

What People are Saying About This

Alonzo L. Hamby

A serious second look at the New Deal that historians will ignore at their peril.

THE HISTORIAN

...A clear, engaging, jargon-free style.... A good job of outlining the key events of the period for nonspecialists.

JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC LITERATURE

Incorporates the findings of recent scholarship into an accessible survey of the economic events of the 1930s...

LIBERTY

...Economic historian Gene Smiley has performed a valuable service for all readers, academic and general.... A concise description of the economic influences and course of the Great Depression...

JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY

This is a careful, systematic review of literature on the Great Depression, not a once over treatment.... The book is well written, strives for comprehensiveness and balance....

CHOICE

Economist Smiley...has produced a...slim and readable volume...in language that should be clear and understandable to students.

Editorial Reviews

...Cogent discussion of the knotty topics of monetary policy and international exchange.... Forceful presentation.

Journal of Southern History

...A slender but engaging volume, one approachable by the nonspecialist.

Business History Review

...An engaging, balanced, and perceptive short book.... Smiley brilliantly describes this tragedy and its long-term consequences

CLAREMONT REVIEW OF BOOKS

...A book of equal value both to laypersons and to professional economists.... Well written.

Public Choice

Smiley (economics, Marquette U.) argues that the Great Depression was caused by too much government intervention in the economy, rather than too little regulation. He contends that tariffs and the reliance on the gold standard caused what should have been a minor recession into a depression and suggests that the New Deal policies of the Roosevelt administration caused the problem to linger for much longer than it should have. The New Deal legislation that has been left in place in the wake of the Great Depression continues to cause problems for the economy and should be scrapped, he concludes. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

A brief and provocative account. . . . Smiley knows the current literature well, and makes good use of it in his analysis.

Virginia Quarterly Review

This is a careful, systematic review of literature on the Great Depression, not a once over treatment. . . . The book is well written, strives for comprehensiveness and balance.

The Journal Of Economic History

The author writes in a clear, engaging, and jargon-free style and does a good job of outlining the key events of the period for nonspecialists. Provides a handy introduction to the Great Depression.

The Historian

Incorporates the findings of recent scholarship into an accessible survey of the economic events of the 1930s.

Journal of Economic Literature

A remarkable achievement . . . Smiley has succeeded in presenting a brief, fact-rich account . . . in clear, nontechnical prose.

Robert Higgs

Gene Smiley's explanation of the Great Depression benefits from his expertise in banking and the international gold standard.

Larry Schweikart

Short in length but long on insight . . . a masterful account. . . . It will be required reading.

Richard Vedder

A serious second look at the New Deal that historians will ignore at their peril.

Alonzo L. Hamby

A book of equal value both to laypersons and to professional economists. . . . Well written.

Public Choice - Jim F. Couch

An engaging, balanced, and perceptive short book. . . . Smiley brilliantly describes this tragedy and its long-term consequences.

Claremont Review of Books

Economist Smiley . . . has produced . . . a slim and readable volume . . . in language that should be clear and understandable to students.

Choice

Incorporates the findings of recent scholarship into an accessible survey of the economic events of the 1930s.

Journal Of Economic Literature

...Economic historian Gene Smiley has performed a valuable service for all readers, academic and general.... A concise description of the economic influences and course of the Great Depression...

Liberty

An engaging, balanced, and perceptive short book. . . . Smiley brilliantly describes this tragedy and its long-term consequences.

Claremont Review Of Books

Economist Smiley . . . has produced . . . a slim and readable volume . . . in language that should be clear and understandable to students.

CHOICE

Economic historian Gene Smiley has performed a valuable service for all readers, academic and general. . . . A concise description of the economic influences and course of the Great Depression.

Liberty Press