Great Crash

Historical Context Essay

Robert Clark (The Literary Encyclopedia)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.3: American (US) Writing and Culture: The Early Twentieth-century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: J. Michael Duvall (College of Charleston), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Tony Papanikolas (San Jose State University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

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Economic Crises

Dates

Date of occurrence 1929-10-24

Places

United States (Location)

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The US economy experienced a short postwar boom as wartime scarcity was overcome (1918-20) but rising prices led to speculation in commodities and land, encouraged by low interest rates. The Federal Reserve raised rates to an unprecented 6% early in 1920, precipitating a short but severe depression. In 1921, 505 banks suspended business, mainly small state banks. Whilst in retrospect this seems an avatar of things to come in 1929, the economy recovered in 1921 and boomed until 1929. Wages and prices remained stable whilst industrial production across the 1920s increased 43% and income for many large firms tripled 1922-29. Dividends doubled, fuelling increased consumption and investment, especially in the bonds of holding companies and in investment trusts which were hard to subject to…

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532 words

Citation: Clark, Robert. "Great Crash". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 13 April 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=484, accessed 23 November 2024.]

Great Crash

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