...The Great Depression and the recent Stream of Crisis A Comparative Study This Document is aimed at studying and comparing the great depression of the 1930s with the current crisis from United States’ Perspective 2012 GROUP 6 12/8/2012 SCHOOL OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT NARSEE MONJEE INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, Mumbai MBA 1st YEAR SUBMITTED TO DR. Chandrima Sikdar Table of Contents Introduction: 4 The Great Depression: From Herbert Hoover to FDR 5 Reasons behind the great depression: 7 Stock Market Crash of 1929 7 Bank Failures 7 Reduction in Purchasing Across the Board 7 American Economic Policy with Europe 7 Drought Conditions 7 Keynesian Solution to the great depression: 8 The recovery 9 Comparison of the great depression with the current stream of crisis: 11 The reaction of Government: 11 Collapse of share prices vs. collapse of asset price: 11 Unemployment: Different rates but similar outcomes: 11 International trade: Is it a real differentiator: 11 References: 13 Introduction: Recessions and business cycles are thought to be a normal part of living in a world of inexact balances between supply and demand. The current economic stream has given the Americans a déjà-vu of The Great depression, which lasted a decade (1929-1939). Though it is evident that there are similarities between the two scenarios, there are enough clues which indicate that there is difference in terms...
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... As far as I know, recession is what's on everyone's mind and what probably should be on Mr. Bernanke's mind. Inflation has been pretty high though (e.g. the price of commodities) but the tools available to them to fight recession and inflation are usu. contrary to each other, so inflation should take a back seat for now. Of course we could be in for stagflation in the near future. A stable recovery. The general concern (shrinking, but still present) is that the U.S. economy could sink into another recession creating a double bottom recovery pattern (as opposed to a V shaped recovery)(Spencer 2009). The U.S. Congress has done a good job at not spooking the markets. If the markets believed that the Fed would be raising the interest rates, the economy could slip into another recession. Ben Bernanke has promised to keep interest rates "exceptionally low for an extended period of time." As we move past the point where recession is a concern, inflation and security bubbles become the next concern. We know the Fed is going to raise rates, but when and by how much? No one’s knows that at all.(Spencer 2009) The Main macroeconomics theory is: Classical-Keynesian synthesis Keynesian - in the Short Run. Classical - in the Long Run. Difference between the two: Prices. The GDP fell as much as 25% in the years following the great depression. If business at that time had had access to capital...
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...competing economic ideas of Keyes vs. Hayek, and finally presents a detailed illustration of their impacts on the America’s economic policies since 1980. Introduction The PBS-made documentary ‘Commanding the Heights’ is to promote better understanding of globalization, economic development and world trade, featured with specific examples of different countries and interviews with related parties. Episode One "The Battle of Ideas," gives an overview of the battle between two major competing ideas about the world economy over the course of last century. On the one hand, the English economist Keynes believes in the ‘planned economy’ and advocates the government intervention to mitigate the risk during economic recession or depression; On the other hand, the Australian economist Hayek favors the free market mechanism and believes in minimum government intervention as market will eventually take care of itself and the prices system is at the heart of what makes a functioning economy work. The episode tracks the root of these ideas and explains how the world moved toward the government controlled economy during the 20th century in a chronological order summarized as below. The Russian Revolution in 1917 marked the beginning of communism economy, in which government is very important to allocate resources and goods. During the great depression of 1930, the Keynes’ theory began to dominate. According to Keynes, the solution to the depression was for the government to spend more...
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...FROM CLASSICAL TO KENYESSIAN ECONOMICS Great Depression In the 1930s, American capitalism practically stopped working.For more than a decade, from 1929 to 1940, America's free-market economy failed to operate at a level that allowed most Americans to attain economic success. The depth economic collapse and social disarray that mired America then was unprecedented. * By 1933, the country's GNP had fallen to barely half its 1929 level12. * Industrial production fell by more than half, and construction of new industrial plants fell by more than 90%. Production of automobiles dropped by two-thirds; steel plants operated at 12% of capacity. * More than 13 million Americans lost their jobs. Of those, 62% found themselves out of work for longer than a year; 44% longer than two years; 24% longer than three years; and 11% longer than four years. Unemployment peaked at a staggering 24.1% in 1933. * The financial meltdown initiated by Wall Street's Great Crash of 1929 caused billions of dollars in assets to vanish into thin air. Wealthy Americans—who owned almost all the nation's stocks at the time—were walloped by an 80% decline in the value of the stock market. * Even more troubling to the entire population were rampant bank failures—between 1929 and 1933, two out of every five banks in America collapsed, causing more than $7 billion of their customers' hard-earned money to evaporate. Factors responsible The stock market crash of October of 1929. * The...
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...2008 GREAT RECESSION COMPANIES WHO SURVIVED AND ALTERNATE METHODS TO EMPLOYEE LAYOFFS MGT 310-06 PROFESSOR CAS CASWELL BY DE’-LISA BARNES INTRODUCTION In 2008, the end of the first decade of the 21st century, the world market experienced the worst economic decline, known as the Great Recession. The overall impact was described as being the worst global recession since World War II. The precise magnitude and timing of the recession is widely debated and varied from country to country. The years leading up to the crisis were characterized by a highly excessive rise in asset prices, combined with a boom in economic demand, which inflicted a clear hardship for businesses and families. To further explain my research, this paper will focus on the following: What caused the great recession, Effects of the recent recession, Types of Businesses that survived the recession, Companies that hired during the recession, Companies that choose shared-worked programs over layoffs, Various states that participates in the work shared programs, and the Advantages of the work share program. WHAT CAUSED THE GREAT RECESSION The Great Recession actually began in December 2007, which is long before most people ever realized what was to soon transpire. Although there are many speculated factors or causes that led to the recession, the American people strongly believe that the following groups are responsible for the Great Recession of 2008: Government, Mortgage Companies, Banking...
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...Starvation, homelessness, and unemployment were just some of the devastating components of life that many people across the globe suffered through as a result of the longest lasting economic downturn in history. This was also known as the Great Depression. The Great Depression caused worldwide panic to every country and continent in the world, hitting the United States and Germany the hardest. Overproduction, the stock market crash, and the weak banking systems led to a crisis that immensely impacted the way people had to live their everyday lives. Many factors played a role in triggering the start to the Great Depression, which can be considered one of the darkest times in American history. One of the most influencing factors was the vast amount of economical resources being made that weren’t being sold at the rate they were being produced. Both farmers and factories were producing much more goods than the people were able to afford. This was known as overproduction. By 1929, worker input increased by 32 percent allowing manufacturing companies to soar. ("Causes of the Great Depression." Great Depression and the New Deal Reference Library. Ed. Allison McNeill, Richard C. Hanes, and Sharon M. Hanes.) During this time, more suburban families had access to electricity and automobiles causing the demand to rise immensely. In turn, farmers produced more goods to meet the demand. With the overabundance of new consumer products and farm goods such as wheat and meat, prices began...
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...families to survive during unemployment. The policy analysis model will be used to review all aspects of the policy, including historical origins, strengths, and weaknesses, as well as how the policy has succeeded or failed in reaching the goals it was created to achieve. The origins of unemployment benefits date back to the 1700-1800s, when Switzerland and other European countries established voluntary benefits programs to aid those in need. Even the state of Wisconsin, in the early 1930s, had a voluntary unemployment benefits program, however the United States as a whole did not officially enact the unemployment benefits program until August of 1935 in response to the devastating effects of the Great Depression (DeWitt, n.d.). The Great Depression, one of the most devastating recessions the country has seen, caused more than 25% unemployment rate and had both federal and local governments spending over a billion dollars in relieve funds (DeWitt, n.d.). Legislatively, some efforts had been made over the years by the federal government as well as individual states, to address the problem of unemployment. Bills were introduced in 1916 and 1922 by states such as Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, and finally in 1932, a bill was passed in Wisconsin (DeWitt, n.d.). In 1933, the American plan was proposed but focused more on reserve funding and preventing unemployment as opposed to relief for those not working (DeWitt, n.d.). Unfortunately...
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...publicly traded companies filed for bankruptcy? Why did a house that used to cost $200,000.00 just sell for $40,000.00? Why are foreclosures at the highest rate in US history? Maybe the question to ask is what has caused all of this? There are so many questions to be answered when it comes to the economic conditions in the United States. How did it get into the current condition? What were the signs of slipping into the crisis (economic indicators)? Whose actions were responsible? Was the responsible party also guilty of unethical behavior (big issue) or was it accidental. How long will it take for the economy to get back to being productive? In the past, America has been a very productive, successful country. There have been other recessions and a depression that have affected the U.S. but for some reason this current crisis was started by a completely different chain of events. What was the chain of events that triggered this current catastrophe? There are so many questions that need to be answered for the people of America and this student is now on a mission to give the United States and the world an explanation about the crisis and possible solutions to getting out of the crises. After this catastrophe started in the United States, the rest of the countries in the world suffered the same fate. This is because the...
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...Recession A significant decline in activity across the economy, lasting longer than a few months. It is visible in industrial production, employment, real income and wholesale-retail trade. The technical indicator of a recession is two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth as measured by a country's gross domestic product (GDP); although the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) does not necessarily need to see this occur to call a recession. Recession is a normal (albeit unpleasant) part of the business cycle; however, one-time crisis events can often trigger the onset of a recession. The global recession of 2008-2009 brought a great amount of attention to the risky investment strategies used by many large financial institutions, along with the truly global nature of the financial system. As a result of such a wide-spread global recession, the economies of virtually all the world's developed and developing nations suffered extreme set-backs and numerous government policies were implemented to help prevent a similar future financial crisis. A recession generally lasts from six to 18 months, and interest rates usually fall in during these months to stimulate the economy by offering cheap rates at which to borrow money. The sharp decline in economic activity during the late 2000s, which is generally considered the largest downturn since the Great Depression. The term “Great Recession” applies to both the U.S. recession – officially lasting from December 2007...
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...HIS 104 Key Terms * Thirteenth Amendment * The amendment to the US Constitution that abolished slavery. The abolishment of slavery was the final blow to the South during the civil war and was an attempt to secure the future of the nation by making sure that the institution of slavery, which was the ultimate cause of the civil war, could never cause a civil war in the US ever again. This was the first time slavery was mentioned in the Constitution * Fourteenth Amendment * The amendment to the US Constitution during the reconstruction period that promised civil rights to everyone, including persons of color. This amendment elevated former slaves to the same status as everyone else. * Fifteenth Amendment * An amendment to the US Constitution during the reconstruction period that prohibited states from denying men the right to vote on the grounds of race or color. This amendment allowed black men to vote in the United States. * Henry Ford * Inventor of the Model-T car during the industrial revolution. Changed American culture * Scientific Management * Also known as Taylorism, a new method of assembly line production, making factories more efficient during the American Industrial Revolution, designed by Frederick Taylor. The first person to use this method was Henry Ford for the Model-T car. * Thomas Edison * The inventor of the light bulb. This changed the life of many Americans, as it eventually led to the rise...
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...CIRCLE THEORY INTRODUCTION. The term business cycle (or economic cycle or boom-bust cycle) refers to economy-wide fluctuations in production, trade and economic activity in general over several months or years in an economy organized on free-enterprise principles. The business cycle is the upward and downward movements of levels of GDP (gross domestic product) and refers to the period of expansions and contractions in the level of economic activities (business fluctuations) around its long-term growth trend. These fluctuations occur around a long-term growth trend, and typically involve shifts over time between periods of relatively rapid economic growth (an expansion or boom), and periods of relative stagnation or decline (a contraction or recession).Business cycles are usually measured by considering the growth rate of real gross domestic product. Despite being termed cycles, these fluctuations in economic activity can prove unpredictable. History A BASIC ILLUSTRATION OF ECONOMY/BUSINESS CIRCLE. Theory The first systematic exposition of periodic economic crises, in opposition to the existing theory of economic equilibrium, was the 1819 Nouveaux Principes d'économie politique by Jean Charles Léonard de Sismondi. Prior to that point classical economics had either denied the existence of business cycles, blamed them on external factors, notably war, or only studied the long term. Sismondi found vindication in the Panic of 1825, which was the first unarguably international economic...
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...Who was Keynes and what were his ideas? John Maynard Keynes, born in 1883, is considered to be one of the most influential economists of the 20th century. He was most prominent during the Great Depression in the 1930s when he tried to create an economical revolution in economic thinking with his ideas of intervention in markets. The idea is also generally; that in the short run productive activity is very much influenced by aggregate demand, (aggregate demand is the total spending in the economy with the equation; Consumption + Investment + Government Expenditure + (Exports - Imports)) and that aggregate demand does not equal the productive capacity of the economy. Keynes believed strongly that Government Intervention would strongly help the economy to succeed and grow. His three main argument points concerning the Government were : The Government has a role to play in moderating the business cycle. Government can use short term monetary policy to engineer the economy. During economic hardship the government should spend to try and 'spur' on economic growth. In the second point I mentioned monetary policy, but what is it? It involves changes in the base rate of interest to influence the growth of aggregate demand, the money supply and price inflation. A short goal would be set for the economy to achieve this by changing the base rate. If the economy is doing well, the government should stop spending money, or spend less, but if the economy is bombing, the government...
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...In 2008, the U.S. Economy experienced a drop in the stock market so fast and unexpected that it has been called the “Great Recession” (Santucci, 2011) and the “Crash of 2008” (Crash of 2008, 2010). Many things contributed to the recession, but the main cause was sub-prime lending by banks. Basically banks were lending money to people to buy homes that they couldn't afford. Due to the sub-prime mortgages going belly-up, along with the spiraling effects of bank failures such as the automotive industry needing to borrow billions of dollars, the U.S. Economy experienced is worst economic situations since the Great Depression. The causes of the recession date back many years, and as far back as 1980. This is when bank deregulation begins (Crash of 2008, 2010), which means less qualifications are needed to give out a loan. This recession could have been foreseen by some since in 1987, there was a stock market crash that occurred after the banking deregulation began (Crash of 2008, 2010). As we get closer to the Crash of 2008, we find that there are more and more subtle signs. One of the biggest early signs was in 2001 when the annual issue of US mortgage backed bonds increased from $500- $2,000 billion (Crash of 2008, 2010). Also, with the U.S. Backing more bonds at such a high rate and causing the interest rates at an all time low, from 2001 to the third quarter in 2006, the average house value was raised by 80% (Crash of 2008, 2010). After this time, the housing market experienced...
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...may not be noticed (slack resources get used), eventually C & I will have to bid up resource costs, inflation dampens I, so Fed further MS, effects are only temporary Actual inflation-exceeds inflation expectations, real ex post returns on bonds can be negative AD can shift – AD, shift right. AD, shift left. Whenever C, I, G, net x / due to changes in the money supply AD curve holding constant moving down –quantity of money AD for output–derived from the demand for money or from the real balance effect AD slopes downward–when the price level is lowered our money balances grow in real terms leading us to buy more Addressing the business cycle–stop inflating money, don’t bail out troubled firms, don’t inflate to get out of the depression, don’t encourage more consumption Adjusting for risk premiums, i still differs–by maturities, a positive term premium = normal yield curve, a negative term premium = inverted yield curve Adverse Selection – occurs before a transaction takes place, lenders & insurers will attract the worst risks,...
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...period leading up to the financial bust, “Americans were buying too much and saving too little.” However, soon it becomes clear that Reich has different point of view what really happened in the wake of the one of the worst economic crisis in world’s history. Author starts his argument by looking back to America’s history and analyzing Great Depression and Great Recession. He is inspired by chairman of Federal Reserve board M. Eccles who was convinced that purchasing power of middle class was reduced by uneven distribution of income. “He draws heavily on his thinking, that the blame lies on a similar but worse economic trauma—the Great Depression—on the vast accumulation of income in the hands of the wealthy in the ’20s, which siphoned purchasing power away from other Americans.” This situation compromised the growth of economy and the economy collapsed. Reich agrees that the stagnation of middle-class buying power has been a drag on growth. “If earnings are inadequate,” he asserts, “an economy produces more goods and services than its people are capable of purchasing.” By studying our past we can see strong correlation between Great Recession and 2008 economic crisis. And we can also find that Reich is confident of the fundamental problem of “broken basic bargain”. I strongly agree, that “basic bargain” was broken by stagnant wages, killing jobs by outsourcing, implementing new technology and concentration of wealth...
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