Who is the economic depression

The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world, lasting from to It began after the stock market crash of October , which sent Wall Street into a panic and wiped out millions of investors. Over the next several years, consumer spending and investment dropped, causing steep declines in industrial output and employment as failing companies laid off workers. Throughout the s, the U. The stock market, centered at the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street in New York City, was the scene of reckless speculation, where everyone from millionaire tycoons to cooks and janitors poured their savings into stocks. As a result, the stock market underwent rapid expansion, reaching its peak in August By then, production had already declined and unemployment had risen, leaving stock prices much higher than their actual value. Additionally, wages at that time were low, consumer debt was proliferating, the agricultural sector of the economy was struggling due to drought and falling food prices and banks had an excess of large loans that could not be liquidated. The American economy entered a mild recession during the summer of , as consumer spending slowed and unsold goods began to pile up, which in turn slowed factory production.

In recent days, some prominent economists have pondered the idea that the current economic shock brought on by shutdown of large swaths of the U. Some hallmarks of the current economic catastrophe bear an uncomfortable resemblance to those of nearly a century ago, while the sheer velocity of the economic collapse has rattled investors. The unpredictable epidemiological trajectory of the coronavirus leaves a wide array of outcomes still in the cards. Economists think this could herald a sea change in how Americans spend, save and invest their money — changes that will reverberate potentially decades into the future. Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic adviser at Allianz and a prominent economist, said the pandemic will be the worst thing to happen to the economy since the Great Depression, in an interview with Financial News. Experts say there are a host of policies in place designed to prevent the economy from sinking into a years-long slump like the Depression, when one in four workers were jobless, many households lost their savings when banks collapsed and the stock market lost nearly 90 percent of its value. Recessions — traditionally defined as two consecutive quarters of GDP contraction — are fairly regular occurrences, with 11 taking place between and , with an average of roughly 11 months between peak and trough.

Discuss September Main article: Great standard, and suffered relatively less than other major countries in the Great Depression. Britain went off the gold Depression in Australia.