Cover of the Mises Institute's 2000 edition of America's Great Depression.

America's Great Depression is a 1963 treatise on the 1930s Great Depression and its root causes, written by Austro-libertarian economist and author Murray Rothbard. The fifth edition was released in 2000. Image File history File links Rothbard-agd. ... The Ludwig von Mises Institute is a foundation, based in Auburn, Alabama, dedicated to research on economics and political economy. ... A treatise is a formal, systematic written analysis of a certain subject, more lengthy than an essay. ... The 1930s (years from 1930-1939) were described as an abrupt shift to more radical and conservative lifestyles, as countries were struggling to find a solution to the Great Depression, also known in Europe as the World Depression. ... Bold text // Link titleSmall TextSubscript textSubscript textSuperscript textStrike-through textSEX The Great Depression was a worldwide economic downturn which started in October of 1929 and lasted through most of the 1930s. ... The Austrian School, also known as “the Vienna School” and as “the Psychological School”, is a school of economic thought that advocates the adherence to strict methodological individualism. ... See also Libertarianism and Libertarian Party Libertarian,is a term for person who has made a conscious and principled commitment, evidenced by a statement or Pledge, to forswear violating others rights and usually living in voluntary communities: thus in law no longer subject to government supervision. ... Murray Newton Rothbard (March 2, 1926 – January 7, 1995) was a highly influential American economist, historian and natural law theorist belonging to the Austrian School of Economics who helped define modern libertarianism and anarcho-capitalism. ...

Brief summary

Rothbard blames the interventionist policies of the Herbert Hoover administration for magnifying the duration, breadth, and intensity of the Great Depression. Rothbard explains the Austrian theory of the business cycle, which holds that government manipulation of the money supply sets the stage for the familiar "boom-bust" phases of the modern market. He then details the inflationary policies of the Federal Reserve from 1921 to 1929 as evidence that the depression was essentially caused not by speculation, but by government interference in the market. (Finally, on Nov. 8, 2002, this evidence was corroborated by remarks made by Ben Bernanke, Alan Greenspans right hand at the time, at the occasion of Milton Friedman's 90th birthday) Economic interventionism is a term used to describe activity undertaken by a central government to affect a countrys economy in an attempt to increase economic growth and/or standards of living. ... Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964), the 31st President of the United States (1929-1933), was a world-famous mining engineer and humanitarian administrator. ... // [edit] Introduction [edit] Definition If we were to take snapshots of an economy at different points in time, no two photos would look alike. ... In mainstream economics, the word “inflation” refers to a general rise in prices. ... The Federal Reserve System is headquartered in the Eccles Building on Constitution Avenue in Washington, DC. The Federal Reserve System (also the Federal Reserve; informally The Fed) is the central banking system of the United States. ... Speculation involves the buying, holding, and selling of stocks, bonds, commodities, currencies, collectibles, real estate, derivatives or any valuable financial instrument to profit from fluctuations in its price as opposed to buying it for use or for income via methods such as dividends or interest. ... Ben Shalom Bernanke (born December 13, 1953) (pronounced ber-NAN-kee, bər-nan-kē or ), is an Jewish-American macroeconomist, who is the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the United States Federal Reserve (the Fed). He was previously Chairman of the U.S. Presidents Council of... Alan Greenspan (born March 6, 1926) is an American economist and was Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve of the United States from 1987 to 2006. ... Milton Friedman (July 31, 1912 – November 16, 2006) was an American economist and public intellectual who made major contributions to the fields of macroeconomics, microeconomics, economic history and statistics while advocating laissez-faire capitalism. ...

Table of contents

Part I: Business Cycle Theory

1. The Positive Theory of the Cycle
2. Keynesian Criticisms of the Theory
3. Some Alternative Explanations of Depression: A Critique

Part II: The Inflationary Boom: 1921-1929

4. The Inflationary Factors
5. The Development of the Inflation
6. Theory and Inflation: Economists and the Lure of a Stable Price Level

Part III: The Great Depression: 1929-1933

7. Prelude to Depression: Mr. Hoover and Laissez-Faire
8. The Depression Begins: President Hoover Takes Command
9. 1930
10. 1931—"The Tragic Year"
11. The Hoover New Deal of 1932
12. The Close of the Hoover Term

Appendix

• Government and the National Product, 1929-32

See also

• Austrian Theory of the Business Cycle

The Austrian business cycle theory is in many ways the quintessence of Austrian economics, as it integrates so many ideas that are unique to that school of thought, such as capital structure, monetary theory, economic calculation, and entrepreneurship. ...

Publishing history

• 5th Edition: Auburn, Ala.: Ludwig von Mises Institute, June 15, 2000. Hardcover. 368 pages. ISBN 0-945466-05-6.

• 4th Edition: New York: Richardson & Snyder/E.P. Dutton. 1983. Hardcover. 361 pages. ISBN 0-943940-03-6.

• 3rd Edition: New York: New York University Press. Co-sponsored by Institute for Humane Studies. January 1, 1975. Paperback. 361 pages. ISBN 0-8362-0647-9. Hardcover ISBN 0-8362-0634-7.

• 2nd Edition: Menlo Park, California: Institute for Humane Studies, 1972. 361 pages. ISBN 0-8402-5003-7.

• 1st Edition: Princeton, N.J.: D. Van Nostrand, 1963. Hardcover. 361 pages.

Ludwig von Mises Institute for Austrian Economics, Auburn, Alabama The Ludwig von Mises Institute (LvMI), based in Auburn, Alabama, is a libertarian academic organisation engaged in research and scholarship in the fields of economics, philosophy and political economy. ... The Institute for Humane Studies (IHS) is a libertarian organization that assists students at the undergraduate and graduate levels. ... The Institute for Humane Studies (IHS) is a libertarian organization that assists students at the undergraduate and graduate levels. ...

External links

• America's Great Depression: Complete Text in HTML format (also in PDF format)