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Did International Economic Forces Cause The Great Depression?

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  • BARRY EICHENGREEN

Abstract

This paper reviews and assesses international explanations for the depth and duration of the Great Depression. Many of the conclusions are negative. The U.S. Smoot‐Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 came too late to account for the 1929 downturn and fails to explain the severity of the contraction in the U.S. The competitive devaluations of the 1930s redistributed the Depression's effects across countries but did not worsen it overall. The deflationary consequences of the liquidation of foreign exchange reserves were minor. Domestic central bank policies and their failure to be coordinated internationally must bear the major responsibility for the Depression.

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  • Barry Eichengreen, 1988. "Did International Economic Forces Cause The Great Depression?," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 6(2), pages 90-114, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:coecpo:v:6:y:1988:i:2:p:90-114
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1465-7287.1988.tb00287.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Richard Higgott & J J Woo & Tim Legrand, 2021. "The demand for IPEand public policy in the governance of global policy design [The emerging regional architecture of world politics]," Policy and Society, Darryl S. Jarvis and M. Ramesh, vol. 40(4), pages 449-466.
    2. Gabriel P. Mathy, 2014. "Uncertainty Shocks and Equity Return Jumps and Volatility During the Great Depression," Working Papers 2014-02, American University, Department of Economics.
    3. Barry Eichengreen., 1989. "International Monetary Instability Between the Wars: Structural Flaws or Misguided Policies?," Economics Working Papers 89-118, University of California at Berkeley.
    4. Marek A. Dąbrowski, 2015. "Did the Great Deflation of 1929–33 really have to happen? A reconsideration of the inevitability of the Great Deflation view," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 19(3), pages 235-254.

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