The Great Depression: Delayed Recovery and Economic Change in America, 1929-1939

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Cambridge University Press, 1987 - Business & Economics - 269 pages
By examining the uneven fate of manufacturing industries during the 1930s, Michael Bernstein presents a powerful new interpretation of the Great Depression. The depth and persistence of the slump, he argues, cannot be explained by cyclical theories alone, but by the conjunction of a crisis in financial markets with a long-run transformation in the kinds of goods and services required by firms and households. By focusing on evidence from specific industries, Professor Bernstein provides a more detailed picture of what happened to the American economy in the thirties that was so different from previous downturns.
 

Contents

Longterm economic growth and the problem of recovery in the United States 192939
19
The transformation of American industry in the interwar period
46
A reassessment of investment failure in the interwar economy
101
Technical change during the interwar years
119
The effective demand problem of the interwar period I Cyclical and structural unemployment
142
The effective demand problem of the inter war period II Cyclical and secular changes in final demand
168
New Deal economic policy and the problem of recovery
182
Contemporary economic problems in historical perspective
205
Bibliography
223
Index
253
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