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The great Depression


These were the four largest economies in the world at that time.
             To put the severity of the depression in modern perspective, consider the following. Real US GDP fell by 4.4% in the five years that it declined since 1959. Unemployment has never exceeded 9.7% and we have not had one year of deflation.
             Between 1921 and 1929 gross national income rose from 62.5 billion dollars to 93.6 billion dollars. By 1932, industrial production in the United States was down to almost half the level of 1929 and national income was down to 58 billion dollars. [T.Wilson, Fluctuations in Income and Employment, London 1st Edition, 2nd Edition 1948]. The slump in the United states had effects throughout the world. Those countries which had been borrowing from the United States were faced with a danger to their balance of payments which forced them to replace imports.
             In early 1930, there were approximately sixty bank failures per month in the United States but when the Federal bank tightened its purse strings, things got much worse. Two hundred and fifty-four banks failed in November and three hundred and forty-four in December of 1930. Among these was the bank of the United States, with 450,000 depositors it was the fourth largest bank in New York. In spite of further tax cuts, public works programs and optimistic speeches, spending and thus economic activity continued to decline. The Dow Jones finally decreased at the level of 41.22 in July 1932. [An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance, by Ron Chernow]. .
             The crisis began in Austria, whose financial position had been weak since the end of the war. In May 1931 it was announced that the Kreditanstalt, the Austrian bank, had suffered grave losses and was in danger of being unable to meet its commitments. The announcement, which may have been precipitated by French interests, who were anxious to frustrate the customs union then proposed between Austria and Germany, but which was probably not a result of French withdrawal of funds, set off fears for the stability of German banks.


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