The veterans' bonus of 1936

The Veterans' Bonus, enacted January 1936, disbursed nine-year nonmarketable U.S bonds with a 3 percent annual interest rate to 3 million World War I veterans when bank savings accounts paid 2.5 percent. The average bonus per person exceeded 30 percent of the mean household income for the veter...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of post Keynesian economics Vol. 26; no. 2; pp. 227 - 244
Main Author TELSER, LESTER G.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Abingdon Routledge 01.12.2003
M. E. Sharpe
M.E. Sharpe, Inc
Taylor & Francis Ltd
SeriesJournal of Post Keynesian Economics
Subjects
Budget deficits
Cash
Economic history
Economic theory
Federal budget deficit
Federal Reserve Bank
Fertilizers
Fiscal policy
focused fiscal stimulus
GNP
Great Depression
Gross National Product
Interest rates
Keynesianism
Post Keynesian economics
Studies
Treasury bonds
Veterans
World wars
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Summary:The Veterans' Bonus, enacted January 1936, disbursed nine-year nonmarketable U.S bonds with a 3 percent annual interest rate to 3 million World War I veterans when bank savings accounts paid 2.5 percent. The average bonus per person exceeded 30 percent of the mean household income for the veterans' age bracket. The June 1936 Federal deficit set a peacetime record of nearly one percent of annual gross national product. In two weeks that June, veterans cashed in 46 percent of their total bonus. The economic recovery in 1936 was more than 2.5 times greater than in the preceding two years. The June 1937 redemptions, 45 percent of the 1936 amount, had less effect.
ISSN:0160-3477
1557-7821
DOI:10.1080/01603477.2003.11051391