preview

Causes Of The Great Depression

Better Essays

The Great Depression of the 1930s is known as the biggest economic downturn in U.S. history. The economy eventually recovered from this depression, but there were still many unresolved issues that caused the economy to experience recessions after the Great Depression, such as the Great Recession of 2008-2009. The underlying causes of both the Great Depression and the Great Recession were actually quite similar, and the events that occurred prior to the Great Recession were, in fact, mirror images of the events that took place prior to the Great Depression.

Great Depression/Great Recession
1.) It is known that the main thing that sparked the great depression of the 1930’s was the stock market crash of 1929. This crash caused the stock market to lose 12% of its value and wiped out 14 billion dollars in investments (Kelly). By the end of 1930, the market had regained some that it had lost, but the economy was already so devastated, and America entered the greatest economic depression in U.S. history (Kelly). Prior to the great recession of 2008-2009, a similar event took place. The biggest known cause of the great recession was the housing bubble, but there was also a crash in the stock market that signaled the beginnings of an economic recession. Another thing that caused the great depression was bank failures. The stock market crash of 1929 caused a ripple effect that shut down thousands of banks by the end of 1930 (Kelly). America also saw banks go

Get Access