Essays on the Great Depression

by Bernanke, Ben

• ISBN13: 9780691016986
• ISBN10: 0691016984
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-04-01
• Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr

Summary

Few periods in history compare to the Great Depression. Stock market crashes, bread lines, bank runs, and wild currency speculation were worldwide phenomena--all occurring with war looming in the background. This period has provided economists with a marvelous laboratory for studying the links between economic policies and institutions and economic performance. Here, Ben Bernanke has gathered together his essays on why the Great Depression was so devastating.This broad view shows us that while the Great Depression was an unparalleled disaster, some economies pulled up faster than others, and some made an opportunity out of it. By comparing and contrasting the economic strategies and statistics of the world's nations as they struggled to survive economically, the fundamental lessons of macroeconomics stand out in bold relief against a background of immense human suffering. The essays in this volume present a uniquely coherent view of the economic causes and worldwide propagation of the depression.

Author Biography

Ben S. Bernanke is the Howard Harrison and Gabrielle Snyder Beck Professor of Economics, Professor of Economics and Public Affairs, and Chair of the Department of Economics at Princeton University.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
PART ONE: OVERVIEW	3	(36)
The Macroeconomics of the Great Depression: A Comparative Approach	5	(34)
PART TWO: MONEY AND FINANCIAL MARKETS	39	(122)
Nonmonetary Effects of the Financial Crisis in the Propagation of the Great Depression	41	(29)
The Gold Standard, Deflation, and Financial Crisis in the Great Depression: An International Comparison	70	(38)
Harold James
Deflation and Monetary Contraction in the Great Depression: An Analysis by Simple Ratios	108	(53)
Ilian Mihov
PART THREE: LABOR MARKETS	161	(142)
The Cyclical Behavior of Industrial Labor Markets: A Comparison of the Prewar and Postwar Eras	163	(43)
James L. Powell
Employment, Hours, and Earnings in the Depression: An Analysis of Eight Manufacturing Industries	206	(41)
Unemployment, Inflation, and Wages in the American Depression: Are There Lessons for Europe?	247	(8)
Martin Parkinson
Procyclical Labor Productivity and Competing Theories of the Business Cycle: Some Evidence from Interwar U.S. Manufactutring Industries	255	(21)
Martin Parkinson
Nominal Wage Stickiness and Aggregate Supply in the Great Depression	276	(27)
Kevin Carey
Index	303