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About Warren D. Miller, CFA, ASA, CPA
Expertise
My in-depth knowledge of economics is confined to three sub-disciplines: Austrian economics, industrial organization, and evolutionary economics. Other questions dealing with macroeconomics, the traditional neoclassical paradigm, labor economics, environmental economics, agricultural economics, health economics, and so on should go to those who have the appropriate expertise. N.B.: I DO NOT ANSWER QUESTIONS MARKED 'PRIVATE' because I believe that knowledge should be shared, not hoarded. I also believe that such questions are likely to come those trying to cheat.

Experience
I work with Austrian economics (which is different in major respects from the traditional neoclassical model), industrial organization (which is about industry structure, conduct, and performance), and evolutionary economics (almost, but not quite, the economic analog of its biological counterpart) everyday in my work. I appraise closely-held businesses. Understanding, applying, and writing about these disciplines is an essential part of how I have made my living since 1993.

Organizations
CFA Institute, Strategic Management Society, American Society of Appraisers, Institute of Management Accountants, Academy of Management, Culver Legion

Publications
CFA Magazine, Valuation Strategies, Value Examiner, Journal of Advanced Property Economics, Harvard Business Review, American Fly Fisher, CFA Digest, CPA Expert, and Business Valuation Review, among other

Education/Credentials
MBA - Oklahoma State (1991) BBA - U. of Oklahoma (1975) Chartered Financial Analyst designation (2006) Accredited Senior Appraiser (2006) Certified Management Accountant (1992) Certified Public Accountant (1992)

Past/Present Clients
Confidential

You are here: Experts > Arts/Humanities > Social Science > Economics > great depression

Topic: Economics

Expert: Warren D. Miller, CFA, ASA, CPA
Date: 5/8/2008
Subject: great depression

Question
hello there! my name is sabreen and im an 8th grader at Alderwood Middle School in Lynnwood, Washington. I am doing a history research project and my essential question is What was the Great Depression, and what was President Roosevelts role? I was wondering if you could take a couple minutes to answer the following questions

1. What effect did the G.D. have on the Americans?
2. What caused and ended the G.D?

Please direct to me some sources if you can. Thanks for your time!

Answer
Dear Sabreen--

Thank you for your questions, and thank you for using AllExperts.com. As I'm sure you can understand, many books have been written that try to answer the questions you asked. I can provide only links to what I believe to be fair, balanced, even-handed assessments. Before I get started, though, let me recommend a book to you. It's called "The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression" by Amity Schlaes (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0066211700/). Here's a review: http://www.thebulletin.us/site/news.cfm?newsid=19356699&BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_id...). Here's a link to a free podcast of an interview conducted w/Schlaes in June 2007, just before her book came out: http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2007/06/shlaes_on_the_g.html. I highly recommend listening to it.

Beyond that, your question, "What effect did the G.D. have on the Americans?" is, unfortunately, too vague for me even to try to respond to. But the following book (which I've not read) might be useful to you: "Daily Life in the United States, 1920-1940: How Americans Lived Through the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression" by David E. Kyvig (http://www.amazon.com/Daily-Life-United-States-1920-1940/dp/1566635845/)

The causes of the Depression are pretty well-known, though economists, depending on their political leanings, may disagree a little. Milton Friedman won the Nobel Prize in economics in 1976 for a lifetime of intellectual contributions, but especially for his study of the Great Depression. He and his co-author, Anna Schwartz, noted that 10.797 of the 25,868 banks in the U.S. failed between 1929 and 1933. There was no depositors' insurance back then, so depositors just lost their money. Over that four-year period, the U.S. money supply (currency in circulation + balances in checking accounts) fell by 1/3. This cut off credit and made it nearly impossible for businesses and individuals to invest and spend. Businesses closed because spending fell, people lost their jobs (so they spent even less), and prices fell steeply.

During this same period, the U.S. Congress, of course, couldn't sit still (you seem some of the same behavior today on Capitol Hill about the "subprime mortgage" heist). It made a bad situation worse by passing legislation called the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, which President Hoover signed into law on June 17 of that year. A tariff is a tax, Sabreen. This Act heavily taxed over 20,000 imported goods in an insane effort to "protect" American jobs from overseas competition. Other countries retaliated against goods coming into their economies from the U.S., and the Depression became a worldwide event. (For more: http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/obrien.hawley-smoot.tariff).

The unemployment rate in the U.S. reached 25% - one worker in every four was not working, but was looking for work. Here's a link to the Library of Congress: http://memory.loc.gov/learn/features/timeline/depwwii/depress/depress.html

Here's a link to a free download of a publication called "Great Myths of the Great Depression": http://www.mackinac.org/article.aspx?ID=4013

The Great Depression was one of the biggest events in American history, Sabreen. Even today, people speak of it, often with a purpose of trying to scare the bee-jeezus out of their audiences. Avoid that kind of fear, but learn your history!

I hope this is helpful. Please fill out the 'Rate the Expert' email you'll get right after this one. That helps me give better help to questioners like you!

Take care, and good luck--

Warren

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