America's Great Depression

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 Austrian School economist and author Murray Rothbard. The fifth edition was released in 2000.

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 detailed 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 and central bank interference in the market.

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 Business Cycle Theory

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.

External links

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

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