Abstract

The Great Depression, as a creator of unemployment, was indiscriminate in its selection of targets. Previously, economic recessions and downturns had affected primarily unskilled industrial workers whose job opportunities were not very stable to begin with. Even in the booming 1920s, many of these laborers faced real prospects of unemployment. The Great Depression was different in that it also put middle-income and upper-income workers out of work. Poor-relief records, reported by the Works Progress Administration in 1935, demonstrated that the Depression affected members in every working group and profession in the United States. In this paper we try to focus on the Great Depression. The main purpose of this research paper is to analyze the conditions and causes of the Great Depression.

The Great Depression

Introduction

The Great Depression was an economic crisis that went global during the decade before World War II. Its duration depends on the countries analyzed, but most began around 1929 and lasted until late in the thirties or early forties. It was the longest depression in time, more depth and affecting more countries than those suffered in the twentieth century.

Discussion

The new consensus that deflation is based more on the overall weakness of capitalism in the strength of the U.S., the World Bank and IMF. The power of this triad was deepened by the debt crisis in the 80's and the Soviet Union collapsed (its main competitor) in the '90s. Concerned above all to promote the competitiveness of banks and businesses and neoliberal ideology, none of the political elites of these institutions was aware of the potential deflationary austerity generalized competitive and export promotion. It is impossible for all countries to reduce demand and have a trade balance surplus, without causing a global depression (Goldston, 12).

Conditions and Causes of the Great Depression

Causes of the Great Depression

The dark period of economy dawned on America on October 29th, 1929, when the most lucrative sector, the stock market, which for decades had ensured the quickest and simplest way to become rich, fell prey of bankruptcy (McElvaine, p. 36). The crash of stock market thrust America in the state of utter hopelessness and despair. There was no hope of recovery for the stock market to rise again after the crash; the nation was in a dreadful state. Investors in the endeavor of sparing themselves from further demolition and devastation were trying their best to sell all stock, but all they lacked ...