Great Depression/Timelines

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:

Failure of the Bank of United States [11].

Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act [12][13]

GNP drops 9.4% from the previous year. The unemployment rate climbs from 3.2 to 8.7%. By the end of the year, 1,350 banks have closed.

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

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