Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
  1. Home
  2. Books
  3. The Great Depression
  • Cited by 68
      • Show more authors
      • You may already have access via personal or institutional login
    • Select format
    • Publisher:
      Cambridge University Press
      Publication date:
      06 July 2010
      27 November 1987
      ISBN:
      9780511572333
      9780521379854
      DOI:
      https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511572333
      Dimensions:
      Weight & Pages:
      Dimensions:
      (228 x 152 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.4kg, 288 Pages
      • Subjects:
      Economics: General Interest, History, Twentieth Century American History
      Series:
      Studies in Economic History and Policy: USA in the Twentieth Century
    You may already have access via personal or institutional login
    • Selected: Digital
    Add to cart View cart Buy from Cambridge.org
    Subjects:
    Economics: General Interest, History, Twentieth Century American History
    Series:
    Studies in Economic History and Policy: USA in the Twentieth Century
    Information

    Book description

    This 1988 book focuses on the real puzzle of 1930s America: why did the economy fail to recover from the downturn of 1929–33? The author presents a convincing case that there were important long-run tendencies within the economy that are crucial to understanding this failure. From a wealth of detail about individual industries emerges a bold thesis about the interwar economy that emphasizes both cyclical and secular factors and shows that some sectors of the economy demonstrated technological dynamism during the 1930s. His approach cuts across the more traditional explanations which have been for the most part tests of economic theories rather than historical explanations of the depression.

    Reviews

    ‘Bernstein focuses on the real puzzle of the 1930s: why did the economy fail to recover from the downturn of 1929–1933? he presents a convincing case that there were important long-run tendencies within the economy that are crucial to understanding this failure. His approach cuts across the more traditional explanations which have been for the most part tests of economic theories rather than historical explanations of the depression. Bernstein’s book is, in a word, impressive.’

    Roger Ransom - University of California, Riverside

    ‘This book makes an excellent case for the argument that sectoral transformation was an important contributing factor to the length of the Great Depression. It also points out the importance of including sectoral change in all economic histories of the twentieth century.’

    John Joseph Wallis - Journal of Economic History

    ‘Michael Bernstein changes the nature of the recent debate about the aftermath of the great Depression. Instead of the familiar but now sterile arguments about macroeconomic aggregates, Bernstein forces us to consider long-term secular change. From a wealth of detail about individual industries emerges a bold thesis about the interwar economy. His work is ambitious and substantial. His arguments represent a major challenge to received wisdom. No small achievement.’

    Michael Weinstein - Reviews in American History

    ‘By emphasizing both cyclical and secular factors and by showing that some sectors of the economy demonstrated technological dynamism during the 1930s, this book performs a valuable service.’

    Peter Fearon - Economic History Review

    Refine List

    Actions for selected content:

    Select all | Deselect all
    • View selected items
    • Export citations
    • Download PDF (zip)
    • Save to Kindle
    • Save to Dropbox
    • Save to Google Drive

    Save Search

    You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

    Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
    Cancel
    ×

    Contents

    Contents

    Metrics

    Altmetric attention score

    Full text views

    Total number of HTML views: 0
    Total number of PDF views: 0 *
    Loading metrics...

    Book summary page views

    Total views: 0 *
    Loading metrics...

    * Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. This data will be updated every 24 hours.

    Usage data cannot currently be displayed.

    Accessibility standard: Unknown

    Why this information is here

    This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.

    Accessibility Information

    Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this book is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.