Essays on the Great Depression

From the Nobel Prize-winning economist and former chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve, a landmark book that provides vital lessons for understanding financial crises and their sometimes-catastrophic economic effectsAs chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve during the Global Financial Crisis, Ben Bernanke helped avert a greater financial disaster than the Great Depression. And he did so by drawing directly on what he had learned from years of studying the causes of the economic catastrophe of the 1930s-work for which he was later awarded the Nobel Prize. This influential work is collected in Essays on the Great Depression, an important account of the origins of the Depression and the economic lessons it teaches.

Preface viiPART ONE: OVERVIEW 31. The Macroeconomics of the Great Depression: A Comparative Approach 5PART TWO: MONEY AND FINANCIAL MARKETS 392. Nonmonetary Effects of the Financial Crisis in the Propagation of the Great Depression 413. The Gold Standard, Deflation, and Financial Crisis in the Great Depression: An International Comparison - With Harold James 704. Deflation and Monetary Contraction in the Great Depressim An Analysis by Simple Ratios - With Ilian Mihov 108PART THREE: LABOR MARKETS 1615. The Cyclical Behavior of Industrial Labor Markets: A Comparison of the Prewar and Postwar Eras - With James L. Powell 1636. Employment, Hours, and Earnings in the Depression: An Analysis of Eight Manufacturing Industries 2067. Unemployment, Inflation, and Wages in the American Depression: Are There Lessons for Europe? - With Martin Parkinson 2478. Procyclical Labor Productivity and Competing Theories of the Business Cycle: Some Evidence from Interwar U.S. Manufacturing Industries - With Martin Parkinson 2559. Nominal Wage Stickiness and Aggregate Supply in the Great Depression - With Kevin Carey 276Index 303