The Great Depression of the 1930s: Lessons for Today

Understanding the Great Depression has never been more relevant than in today's economic crisis. This edited collection provides an authoritative introduction to the Great Depression as it affected the advanced countries in the 1930s. The contributions are by acknowledged experts in the field and cover in detail the experiences of Britain, Germany, and, the United States, while also seeing the depression as an international disaster. The crisis entailed the collapse of the international monetary system, sovereign default, and banking crises in many countries in the context of the most severe downturn in western economic history. The responses included protectionism, regulation, fiscal and monetary stimulus, and the New Deal. The relevance to current problems facing Europe and the United States is apparent. The chapters are written at a level which will be comprehensible to advanced undergraduates in economics and history while also being a valuable source of reference for policy makers grappling with the current economic crisis. The book will be of interest to modern macroeconomists and students of interwar history alike and seeks to bring the results of modern research in economic history to a wide audience. The focus is not only on explaining how the Great Depression happened but also on understanding what eventually led to the recovery from the crisis. A key feature is that every chapter has a full list of bibliographical references which can be a platform for further study. Contributors to this volume - Michael Bordo, Rutgers University and NBER Charles Calomiris, Columbia University Forrest Capie, City University Nicholas Crafts, University of Warwick Barry Eichengreen, University of California, Berkeley Peter Fearon, University of Leicester Alexander J. Field, Santa Clara University Price Fishback, University of Arizona Timothy J. Hatton, Australian National University and University of Essex John Landon-Lane, Rutgers University Joseph Mason, Louisiana State University Roger Middleton, University of Bristol Kris James Mitchener, Santa Clara University and NBER Albrecht Ritschl, LSE Peter Temin, MIT Mark Thomas, University of Virginia John Wallis, University of Maryland Nikolaus Wolf, Humboldt University