What, or who, started the great depression?

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Ohanian, Lee E.
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California Los Angeles; Federal Reserve System - USA; Federal Reserve Bank - Minneapolis
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC THEORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0531
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jet.2009.10.007
• 发表日期: 2009
• 页码: 2310-2335
• 关键词: Great depression; Herbert Hoover; unionization; deflation

摘要

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. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.