Great Depression/Timelines
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1850-1918
- 11 US recessions [1] including the panic of 1893
1914-18
- First World War
- General suspension of the gold standard.
1918
- Treaty of Versailles: war reparations [2].
1919-21
- UK: Post-war recession [3].
1921-23
- USA: post-war recession [4].
1923
- Germany: Hyperinflation [5].
1924
- USA: Start of 1924-26 upturn [6]
1925
- UK: Britain rejoins the gold standard.
1926
- UK: General strike [7].
1927
- US/UK/France Long Island meeting of central bankers to discuss UK plea to help the £ by raising the US discount rate [8].
- USA: Federal Reserve Bank cuts its discount rate cut from 4% to 3.5% and makes large purchases US government securities [9].
- Renewed economic upturn
1928
- US Federal Reserve Bank raises its discount rate to 5%
1929
February
- UK: Bank of England raises the bank rate fron 4.5% to 5.5%
August
- USA: Start of a downturn in economic activity [10]
- Federal Reserve Bank raises discount rate to 6%
October
- USA: The stock market crash of 1929.
- 24 Black Thursday DJIA falls by 13%
- 28 Black Monday DJIA falls by 12.8%
- 29 Black Tuesday DJIA falls by 11.7%
1930-33
- USA: The "Great Contraction"
- Three waves of panic create a progressive collapse of the United States banking system, with the failure of nearly half of the banks and heavy. losses by the others.
1930
- USA:
1931
- USA: banking crisis, with the failure of over 1800 banks.
- UK: Sterling (£) Crisis [14].
- World: Britain, Sweden and Japan leave the gold standard [15]
1932
- USA:
- Revenue Act: income tax rates increased and allowances reduced [16].
- Reconstruction Finance Corporation [17] created
- Federal Home Loan Act [18]
- Recorded unemployment reaches 25 percent.
1933
- USA: Trough of depression and start of recovery [19]
- Franklin D. Roosevelt elected president.
- President declares a banking holiday and temporarily closes all U.S. banks using the Emergency Banking Act 1933[20].
- The National Recovery Administration and the Public Works Administration created by the National Recovery Act 1933 [21]
- Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation [22] created
- Money supply is 40 percent lower than 1929.
- Approximately 4,000 commercial banks fail.
- 1,700 S&Ls fail
- Franklin D. Roosevelt elected president.
1934
- USA:
- Social Security Act: unemployment compensation introduced [23].
- GNP rises 7.7 percent, and unemployment falls to 21.7 percent.
1935
- USA:
- GNP grows another 8.1 percent, and unemployment falls to 20.1 percent.
1936
1937
- USA: Recession of 1937 [24]: industrial production down 40 percent; unemployment rises by 4 million; stock market drops by 48 percent.
1938
- USA: Start of upturn