Essay 1
Insights from Theory and History
When referring to the subject of International Political Economy the main focus of study in this field looks at analyzing and finding reasons for the problems that arise or are affected from the interaction of international political decision, international economics, international trade, as well as different social systems and societal groups. Over the course and development of these systems prominent figures of economic theory and government interaction have emerged throughout the years. Two of the most influential theorist that have come to the fore front have been John Maynard Keyes, with his theory of Keynesian economics and Milton Friedman with his idea of monetarism. While both economists have had major influence on modern day economic policies, both theorist have contradicting ideas, this paper will aim to take a look at both Keynes and Friedman’s theories respectively and look at the application of these theories in the real world.
John Maynard Keynes theory of economics rose to prominence following the Wall Street stock market crash of 1929. This crash resulted in a major economic plummet, astonishing rise in unemployment, business closures, and a decline in tax revenues. Due to the occurrence of these events the American government turned to borrowing money from other countries. In addition to borrowing money in an effort to slow the recession, the government used strategies of classical economic theory proposed by Adam
The beginnings of the counseling profession can be traced back as far as the Greeks with the emergence of psychology. Psychology did not develop into a legitimate profession until the late 1800s. As time went on it spawned numerous other profession, Counseling Psychology being one of them (Landrum). Some of the most prominent Psychologist in the field such as Freud, Erikson, and Witmer, utilized techniques, most notably ”Talk Therapy”, which lead to the formation of the counseling profession ("The history of counselling and psychotherapy").
Reed’s book, Great Myths of the Great Depression, attempts to argue that the stock market crash of 1929 was merely a normal economic occurrence. Instead, it was government policies enacted in response that exacerbated and prolonged the economic effects of the crash. In effect, Reed’s thesis flips the conventional view on its head: instead of being the cause, free-market capitalism would have naturally solved the issues that led to the Great Depression. Conversely, government intervention was a cause of, rather than a solution to, the economic hardships that resulted.
News Media” by Louis Liebovich. Although, the Stock Market Crash happened on October 29th, 1929, there were prior factors causing the crash. The crash happened only 7 months into Hoover’s presidency according to “History.com.” During the start of the Great Depression, millions of Americans were unemployed and could not provide to their families. Hoover also directed all Federal Departments to speed up public works and other projects, in order to create more jobs. This had little effect to the economic crisis. After the collapse of the European economy, Hoover temporarily suspended of all international debt payments. This saved banks from a complete collapse. This was one of Hoover’s attempts to fix the crisis,
There are primarily two theories as to why the stock market crashed in 1929, affecting innumerable people in the United States and around the world. One speculation to how the devastating catastrophe transpired is driven by the idea that there was an over-production of goods and services and an underconsumption by the people, creating a plummeting bubble; consumers held on to their money and stopped investing, hoping that the market would stabilize. Another common conjecture is the belief that the Great Depression was provoked simply by normal recession, within the business cycle, and was brought about by poor policy on the behalf of the Federal Reserve. Many believe the crash was frankly unavoidable because of the unprecedented combination
This only deteriorated as businesses would suffer financially and unemployment was at an all the time high. Although President Franklin D. Roosevelt came up with tactics and strategies to lessen the effects of the damage done, the economy wouldn’t fully overcome until after 1939 as World War II shifted America. For a little over a decade, businesses would go through financial turmoil and people would have to find other ways to bring in revenue. During the late summer of the 1929, the American economy entered into a recession. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a recession is defined as a period of reduced economic activity. Investors had traded some 16 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange in a single day. That day in history was formally known as “Black Tuesday”. Those same shares had ended up being worthless with no monetary value. The investors who bought them with borrowed money, suffered an excessive lost. Consumer reliability was gone as spending was nonexistent which resulted in factories being closed down. The lack of consumerism also impacted those who had invested in mass production. The consumers who still felt a need to spend, were forced to use credit cards and evidently fell into major debt; foreclosures on homes and repossessions climbed rapidly as people tried their best to live again and have that
There are multiple conditions that occurred in the US that aided in the economic downturn leading to the Great Depression. Prior to the stock market crash of 1929, a classical approach, advocated by Adam Smith, was how America felt its political and economic system functioned. Adam Smith’s classical approach is embedded in the concept of a laissez-faire economic market, which suggests that the US would thrive if left alone (lecture). This approach requires a noninterfering government and allows individuals to follow their own self-interest, which was supposed to keep economic order (Cochran & Malone). Additionally, as discussed in lecture, this theory assumes that markets are inherently stable, self-adjusting and self-regulating, and
Throughout the many years of the Great Depression, the American economy plummeted greatly because of ongoing issues throughout the United States. The American market, and essentially continuously buying, are what keeps an economy in any country moving. The point at issue which allowed the economy to go down consists of three major factors. All three of these aspects took a great amount of citizens down along with all of their profits. Families, businesses, and employees struggled to stay standing during this time period. The American economy suffered this vast plunge because speculation in the stock market, maldistribution of income, and overproduction of goods.
Global Political Economy is essentially a study of a political battle between the winners and losers of global economic exchange. In fact, understanding global economy relies on a clear knowledge of the process of political competition. Political power possessed by actors regulates economic activity and in turn this creates the basis for and affects political power. Through, critical analysis of the concept of global political economy it becomes clear that there are three prominent theories that form GPE, mercantilism, economic liberalism and Marxism.
The economic expansion of the 1920’s, with its increased production of goods and high profits, culminated in immense consumer speculation that collapsed with disastrous results in 1929 causing America’s Great Depression. There were a number or contributing factors to the depression, with the largest and most important one being a general loss of confidence in the American economy. The reason it escalated was a general misunderstanding of recessions by American policymakers of the time.
In the 1920s, American economy had a great time. The vast majority of Americans in 1929 foresaw a continuation of the dizzying economic growth that had taken place in most of the decade. However, the prices of stock crested in early September of 1929. The price of stock fell gradually during most of September and early October. On “Black Tuesday” 29 October 1929, the stock market fell by forty points. After that, a historically great and long economic depression started and lasted until the start of the Second World War. The three causes of the Great Depression are installment buying, uneven distribution of wealth and the irrational behavior in the stock market.
Since the beginning of time people have been affected by their income and ability to accumulate wealth. People live their lives spending or saving money based on their own expectations of what the economy might do. For hundreds of years we have studied how the economic decisions of individuals and governments affect the welfare of society as a whole. John Maynard Keynes introduced a new economic theory that emphasized deficit spending to help struggling economies recover. Keynesian economics revolutionized the traditional thinking in the science of economics. His ideas and theories were deemed radical for his time but were later enacted by some of the largest governments in the world including the United States during the Great Depression. President Franklin Roosevelt enacted the New Deal in an attempt to stimulate the economy through government spending. In this paper I will be giving background to the history economics, the Great Depression, the New Deal, the development of Keynesian Economics. This paper will focus on analyzing the following question: In an attempt to address high unemployment and economic contraction, was Roosevelt’s The New Deal efficacious in stimulating the economy and ending the Great Depression?
Following the Stock Market Crash of 1929, the United States fell into the worst economic
The U.S government implemented policies that would adhere to the Keynesian model that suggest “that it is the responsibility of the government to help stabilize the economy” (Keynesian). Key actions the government and the fed took was quantitative easing, the stimulus and recovery act which were approved in 2009. Though the US has not completely recovered from the recession the government did effectively stabilized our
In 1929, the stock market crashed. The values of production gone down, work force lost their jobs, millions of families lost their homes as well as millions of saving accounts were lost because banks closed for good. Those events resulted in the Great Depression. As a result, the world was plunged into economic turmoil. However, two prominent economists emerged with competing claims and sharply contrasting approaches on how a capitalist economy works and how to revive it when depressed. John Maynard Keynes an English economist believed that government has responsibility to intervene in an economical crisis whereas, Friedrich Hayek an Austrian-born economist and philosopher believed that the government intervention is worthless and
This paper was prepared for GD530 Economics and the International System, taught by Professor Snow