What – or who – started the great depression?

Herbert Hoover. I develop a theory of labor market failure for the Depression based on Hoover's industrial labor program that provided industry with protection from unions in return for keeping nominal wages fixed. I find that the theory accounts for much of the depth of the Depression and for...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of economic theory Vol. 144; no. 6; pp. 2310 - 2335
Main Author Ohanian, Lee E.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York Elsevier Inc 01.11.2009
Elsevier
Elsevier Science Publishing Company, Inc
SeriesJournal of Economic Theory
Subjects
Deflation
Economic history
Economic theory
Great Depression
Great Depression Herbert Hoover Unionization Deflation
Herbert Hoover
Hoover, Herbert
Hoover, Herbert Clark Sr (1874-1964)
Labor market
Labour economics
Labour market
Labour policy
Studies
Trade unionism
Unemployment
Unionization
Wages
Wages & salaries
United States > US
N1
Deflation
J3
Herbert Hoover
Great Depression
Unionization
E3
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Herbert Hoover. I develop a theory of labor market failure for the Depression based on Hoover's industrial labor program that provided industry with protection from unions in return for keeping nominal wages fixed. I find that the theory accounts for much of the depth of the Depression and for the asymmetry of the depression across sectors. The theory also can reconcile why deflation/low nominal spending apparently had such large real effects during the 1930s, but not during other periods of significant deflation.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-1
content type line 23
ISSN:0022-0531
1095-7235
DOI:10.1016/j.jet.2009.10.007