America's Great Depression [Paperback]

Murray N. Rothbard (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 26, 2009

Rothbard opens with a theoretical treatment of business cycle theory, showing how an expansive monetary policy generates imbalances between investment and consumption. He proceeds to examine the Fed's policies of the 1920s, demonstrating that it was quite inflationary even if the effects did not show up in the price of goods and services. He showed that the stock market correction was merely one symptom of the investment boom that led inevitably to a bust. The Great Depression was not a crisis for capitalism but merely an example of the downturn part of the business cycle, which in turn was generated by government intervention in the economy. Had the book appeared in the 1940s, it might have spared the world much grief. Even so, its appearance in 1963 meant that free-market advocates had their first full-scale treatment of this crucial subject. The damage to the intellectual world inflicted by Keynesian- and socialist-style treatments would be limited from that day forward.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Murray N. Rothbard, the author of 25 books and thousands of articles, was a historian, philosopher, and dean of the Austrian School of economics. The S.J. Hall Distinguished Professor of Economics at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, he was also Academic Vice President of the Ludwig von Mises Institute in Auburn, Ala. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 374 pages
• Publisher: BN Publishing (January 26, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1607960656
• ISBN-13: 978-1607960652
• Product Dimensions: 0.8 x 6 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #992,507 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

172 of 191 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Invaluable even after 40 years. March 11, 2002

By Lord Chimp

Format:Hardcover

Economist Alan Reynolds wrote: "The terror of the Great Crash has been the failure to explain it." I wonder if he ever read this great book, which is now in its fifth edition. Murray Rothbard's exploration of this devastating economic calamity is both fascinating and pertinent.

Rothbard refutes key misconceptions about the market economy and the Hoover administration's interventionist policies. Was the Great Crash due to capitalism gone wild? Was President Hoover the proponent of laissez-faire that some continue to insist? Did his interventionist actions assuage the depression? _America's Great Depression_ will always be important because of the Great Depression's legacy. Many continue to believe that the free market economy is inevitably inclined to collapse. Also, the interventionist policies of Presidents Hoover and Roosevelt accelerated the growth of the welfare state.

Economists have always observed the relationship between money supplies and business cycles. Rothbard goes a few steps farther, applying the Austrian school's theory of the business cycle to the Federal Reserve's monetary policies during the 1920s. Rothbard spends the first part of the book detailing the credibility of the Austrian theory and dismantling other theories. He shows how artificial increases in the money supply creates harmful imbalances in the economy. With this premise, Rothbard explains that the Federal Reserve's inflationary abuse of the money supply in the "Roaring Twenties" set the economy up for an unsustainable growth spurt that ended in disaster in 1929. (The scary thing is that prices remained fairly stable and hid the effects of inflation with ruinous results....)

After talking money supplies and business cycles for a while, Rothbard turns his attention to President Hoover's actions to correct the problem. Despite good intentions, government involvement aggravated the Depression. The most damaging and glaring mistake of the Hoover administration was the Smoot-Hawley Tariff, which basically smashed the world's economy. But what else was done? How did different policies delay the economy's recovery? There's a lot to be learned here. In the end, the lesson Rothbard hopes to teach is that the best option for government in fixing a depression is "laissez-faire."

Since the book focuses only on the early part of the Depression (up to 1933), it's unfortunate that Rothbard didn't criticize President Roosevelt's interventionist policies, which eviscerated the economy while it struggled to recover. Rothbard would have had a field day examining the effects of the NRA, the AAA, the WPA, the CWA, the Wagner Act, and everything else the New Deal implemented that I can't remember off the top of my head.

Since this book was originally published in the 60s (1963, I think), many people probably sneered at it. After all, in a time when Keynsianism was trendy, who was willing to blame the government for the Great Depression? Praise to Rothbard for this important application of Austrian theory and his exposure of the government's clumsiness. Read more ›

77 of 88 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Real Story Behind the Great Depression August 16, 2003

By Susanna Hutcheson TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

As a student of the boom and bust and subsequent Depression following the crash of 1929, I have read numerous books on this important subject. It is in knowing the past that we can control the future.

Most books cover the human aspect of this period in American history and that's important. And most of the books cover the events leading up to the crash and depression. But this is the only book I've read that exposes the dynamics behind the scenes that caused the crash and it's terrible crushing length and enormous suffering.

Rothbard explains in great detail how government butted in where it was not needed and created untold suffering. He explains how we allowed England to dictate to us and how in our desire to help Her, our government intentionally hurt its own citizens.

Rothbard was a great economist and a great proponent of the libertarian cause. His belief in Laissez-faire economics is behind his philosophy. It is Laissez-faire that created this country and it is the loss of it that has and is causing us grief and loss of liberty.

This is an excellent book. Published by the Ludwig von Mises Institute, it is a book you'll want to read again and again. Austrian economics are exciting and workable and the Ludwin von Mises Institute is a dynamic proponent of this very workable economic philosophy.

If you are interested in economics and the Great Depression and its real causes, you must read this powerful, well written book.

63 of 73 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitive work on causes of the Depression September 26, 2004

By LMJ

Format:Hardcover

In "America's Great Depression", Professor Rothbard effectively demolishes the myths surrounding this tragic event. However, semi-literate pop-historians continue to ignore the fact that the depression was caused by government intervention. (Central bank manipulation is government intervention.) Rothbard's book stands out due to his refusal to reduce this complex event to a simple story of good (New Dealers, Socialists) versus evil ("capitalism"). Upon close examination of such accounts, it becomes clear that not only do "historians" get the facts wrong, they simply fail to comprehend them. Mainstream historians who refuse to even attempt to gain a basic understanding of economics have had their interpretations rendered embarrassingly obsolete by Rothbard.

33 of 38 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Single Perspective But Still Great October 14, 2004

By Robert C. Morea

Format:Hardcover

First and last, this is a great book. It clearly explains one of the major economic theories of business cycles and goes on to apply it to the Great Depression. The book is best suited to a college economics student, or to a layman willing to devote a considerable level of effort to understanding the subject, but it would not be a particularly difficult project for anyone who reads on a college level. It should be noted that the book espouses ONE of the major economic theories of business cycles, the Austrian theory. Since the book is well written, it is almost dangerous to a student going into it blindly--you are liable to become an Austrian economist! Not that this is a bad thing, but you should realize there are other viewpoints. I do think Rothbard is a bit monomaniacal in his devotion to Austrian theory at the exclusion of everything else, but that doesn't prevent this from being a great book.

40 of 51 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A fine overview of Hoover's bungling of the Great Depression July 30, 2001

By Ross Nordeen VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Rothbard is a hardcore free-marketer of the Austrian school of economics wing. You don't have to buy into the Austrian economics pre-scientific school of thought on business cycles to enjoy this book. Rothbard does a great job of showing that Hoover wasn't the economic non-interventionist that he is so often depicted as. Unfortunately, the book ends with Hoover's term so no critique of FDR's interventionist policies is included.