Causes and Social Consequences of the Great Depression

1
Causes and Social Consequences of the Great
Depression
2
Causes of the Great Depression

• Triggered by the collapse of the U.S. stock
  market (too much speculation, not enough real
  investment). Much was bought on margin with
  much of the purchase price borrowed from
  stockbrokers. When prices fell, people had to
  sell their stock to pay off their brokers. There
  was then a mass sell off.

3
Causes of the Great Depression

• People bought less
• Prices fell further
• Production began to slow
• Unemployment rose
• People bought less
• Vicious spiraling decline not just in the U.S.,
  but in any country that traded extensively with
  the U.S.

4
Causes of the Great Depression

• Americans called in their international loans
• So gold flowed out of Europe (especially Germany
  and Austria) to pay these loans.
• Post World War I U.S. investment in Europe ended

5
Causes of the Great Depression

• Countries decided to go it alone, rather than
  coordinating their responses.
• Many countries went off the gold standard
  (untying the value of their money directly to
  gold).
• Many erected tariffs.
• Most cut spending exactly what economist John
  Maynard Keynes said not to do.

6
Causes of the Great Depression

• No country provided international leadership.

7
Social Impact of the Great Depression

• Women had an easier time finding jobs because
  women worked for lower wages. This left even
  more unemployed angry men who often joined gangs,
  raising feelings of fear and insecurity.

8
Social Impact of the Great Depression

• There was renewed interest in Marxist doctrine
• People were willing to support extreme leaders
  (fascists) who promised solutions to economic
  problems.