Podcast. Great Myths of the Great Depression
Mackinac Center for Public Policy
Students today are often given a skewed account of the Great Depression of 1929-1941 that condemns free-market capitalism as the cause of, and promotes government intervention as the solution to, the economic hardships of the era. In this essay based on a popular lecture, Mackinac Center for Public Policy President Lawrence Reed debunks the conventional view and traces the central role that poor government policy played in fostering this legendary catastrophe.
Listen to an interview discussing the ideas in the monograph "Great Myths of the Great Depression."
Or click this link: http://www.mackinac.org/media/audio/2008/Rosen11-27-08-10AM.mp3
Contents of the monograph Great Myths of the Great Depression
Introduction
- A Modern Fairy Tale
- The Great, Great, Great, Great Depression
Phase I: The Business Cycle
- Central Planners Fail at Monetary Policy
- The Bottom Drops Out
- Buddy, Can You Spare $40 Million?
Phase II: Disintegration of the World Economy
- "The greatest spending administration in all of history"
- You Tax Me, I Tax You
- Free Markets or Free Lunches?
Phase III: The New Deal
- "Nothing to fear but fear itself"
- New Dealing From the Bottom of the Deck
- Blue Eagles, Red Ducks
- The Alphabet Commissars
- "An astonishing rabble of impudent nobodies"
- Signs of Life
Phase IV: The Wagner Act
- An Unfriendly Climate for Business
- Whither Free Enterprise
Endnotes
Download PDF of the entire publication.
Read the entire article on the Mackinac Center for Public Policy website (new window will open).