The great contraction

Friedman and Schwartz's A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960, published in 1963, stands as one of the most influential economics books of the twentieth century. The chapter entitled "The Great Contraction, 1929-33", addressed the central economic event of the century, the Great Depression. Published as a stand-alone paperback in 1965, the publication argues that the Federal Reserve could have stemmed the severity of the Depression, but failed to exercise its role of managing the monetary system and ameliorating banking panics. It served as a clarion call to the monetarist school of thought by emphasizing the importance of the money supply in the functioning of the economy - a concept that has come to inform the actions of central banks worldwide. This edition of the original text includes a new preface by Anna Jacobson Schwartz, as well as a new introduction by the economist Peter Bernstein.

Year

2009

Language

English

Series

Princeton classic edition

Publisher

Princeton University Press

Editions

1

Pages

265

ISBN

9780691137940

Data source: Wikidata